ã€ŠThe Cascade : Echoes of Twilightã€‹


 Chapter 1, The Meeting

    Berlin, Germany,

    19 November 2044 :

    The year 2044, a year that is considered to be the most peaceful. Wars had stopped, poverty was slowly being dissolved. It was overall a great time to live in. But Humanity was not prepared at all for what would transpire next. Humanity had gotten too cozy and comfortable in their peaceful society.

    Then it happened.

    The Cascade as it was called.

    They had all seen the signs that something was wrong. The time was getting erratic, Some places became brighter, darker, colder, and so on and so forth. In research facilities, energy readings all over the world spiked and more anomalous things happened.

    The world had braced itself for a major event. Governments from all over the world thought that this may be something like a solar flare or even a black hole forming somewhere in the Milky Way galaxy but no one could prepare them for The Cascade.

    They had thought that Humanity was prepared for anything. After all, Humanity had survived through World War 3, an event that could have easily wiped out the planet. Oh how wrong they were.

    Bruno was just a student studying abroad in Germany when it happened.

    He was going to go grab a cup of coffee and maybe get some sleep when he saw the cloud of darkness slowly encompassing Berlin and immediately ran.

    His heart was pounding a hundred miles a second all the while the local news station was cackling with urgency, the smell of blood and Oil from the car accidents nearby lingering in his nose; ¡°Dear god¡­We-we have confirmation that China is also hit. We suggest all citizens stay indoo-Russia is also hit?! What do you mean it¡¯s also he-?! I¡­I am Avery Johnson and this may be my last broadcast.¡±¡±

    But Bruno had not much time to ponder on the information as the darkness was quickly catching up to him and then out of nowhere, he tripped, Sending him tumbling onto the road while the sounds of panic drowned out his grunt of pain.

    People paid him no mind as they ran as far away as they realistically could from the darkness that was enveloping Europe . Most of them were not fast enough as Bruno saw them one by one getting consumed by the Cascade

    Seeing this, he tried to run, only to trip and he screamed. Looking down, he could see that a stray piece of glass had pierced his leg, most likely from one of the many broken windows; ¡°ARGH! COME ON, I NEED TO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!¡±

    And that was when he saw her, a woman casually walking from within the Cascade like it was normal.

    Her skin was pale. She had dark purple hair, eyes with violet irises that seemed to glow dimly and a pronounced pair of fangs along with a pair of pointed ears.

    Underneath her royal looking dress is what seemed to be feathers like that of a raven, black as the night. Same could be said for her arms and legs. Her feet and hands similarly also looked like that of a raven

    She then lifted a stray piece of rubble using a shadow tendril and threw it away violently towards a building, utterly demolishing it before then looking over to him but instead of killing him, she offered her hand and gave Bruno a soft smile; ¡°Hey, you okay?¡±

    Bruno immediately tried to back away from her before remembering about his injuries; ¡°S-stay back!¡±

    The woman gave him yet another soft smile; ¡°Hey, don''t worry. I don''t bite innocent people.¡±

    Bruno was hesitant at first but considering the fact that he was injured, he finally took her hand and tried to stand up; ¡°T-thanks-¡±

    That was before he felt lightheaded, most likely due to blood loss and the last thing he saw was the worried face of Leila Arcanna

    ====

    Germania, Dunkel Reich 9 A.C.(After Cascade):

    HOOOONK!

    ¡°AH!¡± Bruno screamed before falling off of his bed from surprise due to the sudden and abrupt honking noise. Bruno was wearing shorts and a baggy shirt, rubbing his crimson eyes while his pointed ears twitched.

    Different from about 4 years ago, he was a tiny bit taller, now having sharper nails and fangs, pointed ears, reddish purple hair and crimson eyes.

    His body was now also covered in fur and a pair of bat wings protruded from his back.

    He then saw an airhorn roll to him and saw the culprit, cackling at what she just did. The culprit was Leila Arcanna, the queen of the Dunkel Reich and the Darkness Hyferion aka the same woman who saved him years ago.

    Bruno then rubbed his temples between his horns before glaring at her; ¡°Leila, I know I''m supposed to be your royal guard but why the hell did you wake me up this early?!¡±

    Leila then leaned closer to him, her face having a cheeky expression; ¡°We got a UN meeting today sleepyhead~ Or do you want to miss out on breakfast?¡±

    Bruno rolled his eyes before letting out a quick yawn and stretching his wings; ¡°Yeah yeah¡­just, let me take a shower real quick.¡±

    Leila then exited his bedroom, likely getting ready for the aforementioned meeting; ¡°10 minutes top!¡±

    Bruno grumbled in annoyance when she left the room. Don''t get him wrong, Leila is a great person overall but he''d be lying if he didn''t say that she doesn''t annoy him at times.

    He was about to go take a shower before looking at the framed picture of his parents on his desk. He picked it up before shaking his head; ¡°Focus Bruno. You can visit them in Mexico next week.¡±

    ====

    Leila''s throne room :

    Inside the throne room, Leila could be seen on her throne with Bruno standing right beside her while John Alrx, a noble of the Dunkel Reich, kneeled down in front of her.

    ¡°My Queen, the divide between our people is getting worse. Just yesterday, a fight broke out in a Serbian bar between a Vampire and a Daemon Lord which escalated and now? The local Daemon population is demanding justice to be served after the Daemon Lord was killed.¡±

    Leila rubbed her chin before letting out an exaggerated sigh; ¡°I¡¯ll see what we can do. You are dismissed.¡± The Noble then bowed and left. Right as he left, she groaned and buried her hands in her hair.

    Leila groaned, voice clearly filled with frustration and stress; ¡°Why did I have to take over this area?! Why can''t me and Icy swap places?!¡± This made Bruno who was in his official royal guard uniform frown a bit

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    Bruno pulled a nearby chair and sat beside her. He then tried to cheer Leila up by trying to find a silver lining in the situation; ¡°Hey, look at the upsides. At least the Empire gets a lot of resources right?¡±

    Leila stood up and groaned; ¡°More like a curse. Now we need to focus an entire sector of our government to manage the export of resources.¡± Leila looked down on the city below her, Germania or as it was formerly known, Berlin.

    The city was different from how it once was 4 years prior. Roots jutted out from the side roads, gothic styled buildings and modern buildings of the past combined seamlessly.

    Leila could smell the scent of meat and blood in the air, most likely from the Vampire restaurants serving Blood berries and an assortment of grilled meat.

    She did have to use her enhanced vision from time to time due to the Darkness Cascade''s lingering darkness on Europe but it wasn''t that much of an issue for her. She is the Darkness Hyferion after all.

    Looking down at the city Leila had helped fix, Bruno let out a small chuckle; ¡°You know Leila, comparing Europe to how it was 9 years ago is kinda like comparing the USA with the North American Union. Both are just completely different and unique in their own rights.¡±

    Leila gave him a soft smile before turning around and shaking her head; ¡°Just doing my job Bruno. Didn''t expect to be transported here but hey, might as well adapt right? Plus, this whole continent is now my responsiblity too.¡±

    Bruno then took a glance outside into the courtyard and saw that their ride was ready; ¡°Leila, the plane taking us to Washington is ready.¡±

    Hearing this, Leila immediately raised a brow; ¡°I thought the main HQ was in Switzerland?¡±

    Bruno crossed his arms and looked at her with a deadpan expression; ¡°Did you forget about the fact that it''s missing the roof after the last meeting?¡±

    Leila blinked; ¡°Huh, I kinda forgot about that.¡±

    Leila then had a shit eating grin on her face; ¡°Well, let''s go then, Broken Wings!¡±

    Bruno immediately flushed with embarrassment; ¡°Oh, come on! That was one time and like 8 years ago!¡±

    =====

    NAU United Nations Building,

    6 hours later :

    ¡°Still can''t believe how many stars the flag has now.¡± Bruno said plainly, referring to the 92 stars of the NAU while the two were walking down the hallway to the meeting room of the remaining countries.

    On the left was the flag of the NAU, USA, Maphilindo Federation and the United Kingdoms.

    Bruno took a look at the flag at the United States of Arabia with a thought; ¡®They literally just copied the old US flag. Like, can¡¯t you be more creative than just, I dont know, putting 10 stripes in a triangle?!¡¯

    Bruno then took a look at the flag of the MaPhilIndo federation and gave an approving smile; ¡®Now that''s how you do a flag! Combine the flags of the countries that make you up into something that actually looks good!¡±

    On the right side of the wall were the 5 flags of the New World, Slavic Socialist Empire(SSE), controlling the Cold sections of the world, Heiru which controls the hot area, Druid¡¯s keep, controlling Latin America, Domain of Light which controls the part of the world affected by the Light Cascade and Lastly, the Dunkel Reich a.k.a, her kingdom controlling Europe.

    Bruno looked over to the world map, specifically at The Dunkel Reich; ¡°I still can''t believe you managed to actually unite West Europe under one banner. This part of the world used to be the hardest to unite.¡±

    Leila shrugged in response; ¡°I mean, the people were desperate and I''m the strongest person in Europe so it makes sense when countries flock to me for protection¡­Even if some were unwilling.¡± At that last part, Leila winced when she looked towards the most problematic part of the Dunkel Reich, The Balkans.

    Leila then casually walked through the hallway, already thinking of the drama that may occur; ¡°I wonder what type of drama might happen today?¡±

    Bruno rolled his eyes while scrolling through his scroll; ¡°Probably just a few border demands and a few limited trade deals by SSE. You know how Ice King is.¡±

    After entering the hall, Leila was surprised to see that 3 of the chairs were empty; ¡°Lily, Vrystk and Hans are missing. That¡¯s kinda weird for Hans and Lily¡± Leila was looking towards their chairs which instead of the rulers, only had representatives. Vrystk was as per usual, only there as a projection

    Leila almost jumped from shock when she heard a voice next to her; ¡°It isn¡¯t very unusual considering what had occurred during the last meeting.¡±

    Looking beside her, she could see Ice King sitting on his chair, wearing a formal suit while sipping on a drink, most likely something he bought from the local convenience store.

    Seeing her friend just relaxing made Leila smile a bit; ¡°Icy! Long time no see!¡±

    This response made Ice King chuckle; ¡°We''ve had this meeting last month your majesty. Anyways, the meeting is about to start soon. I do not know about you but I would rather enjoy it if this meeting were to pass by as soon as possible.¡±

    Leila took a look at the nearby clock and immediately went to sit down in her seat while Bruno just stood beside her while smirking; ¡°You should ask him out you know?¡±

    Leila, clearly not expecting this sort of response immediately let out a bright blush; ¡°Bruno! We''re just friends!¡±

    Bruno then once again smirked; ¡°Yeah right. I take it that friends hug each other tightly where you''re from? Or they text each other every night?¡±

    Leila wanted to retort but couldn''t find a good comeback so she just shut up and pouted.

    Eventually, the president of the NAU arrived, followed by the representatives of the MaPhilIndo Union, the U.K. and the Kiwi Empire. This immediately put the meeting into session and it went on as normal, countries negotiating border changes, trade deals and the such.

    One thing that Leila found a tiny bit interesting was the Maritime issues ; ¡°We demand that Domain of Light''s forces withdraw from the South China Sea. Not only is this a violation of our maritime borders but this is also a direct threat to our sovereignty and safety. This, along with the fact that we share a border makes us feel as if the Domain of Light is getting ready for a war.¡±

    Vrystk just sat in her throne back in Tokyo, her projection just showing her with a bored expression; ¡°Fine. I suppose I''ll move my fleet to Manchuria then.¡±

    As soon as Vrystk said this, half of the leaders in the room immediately put their hand on their face and let out a sigh; ¡°Empress Vrystk.What I think President Mohamed here is saying is to not invade another country''s maritime borders¡­like how you were doing for the past 3 years.¡±

    Ice King sat back down into his chair, shaking his head while Leila just sat in her chair.

    Next was Vrystk''s turn for requests and she immediately turned her gaze to Leila; ¡°We demand a port in Italy after the sinking of the Xuan Xi. We would appreciate it if you give one that has a lot more room.¡±

    This sentence alone made Leila spit the coffee she was drinking at the utter absurdness of the request; ¡°You were the one who sailed your warship into my Iberian coasts! Why should I give up my port for that?!¡±

    Ice King, watching the interaction just chuckled at just how obvious Vrystk''s intentions were; ¡°Ah. Empress Vrystk. I thought we had all made an agreement to not attempt to steal another Hyferion''s Singularity?¡±

    Leila''s eyes widened at the realization while Vrystk just let out an annoyed ¡®Tch¡¯. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the room got a lot darker.

    Leila stood up, her eyes full of fury; ¡°We¡¯ve already agreed to not even think of this! No one should try to steal another Hyferion¡¯s Singularity unprovoked!¡±

    Vrystk just rolled her eyes and all the orbs around her head lit up as she flared all 10 of her wings while she herself was glaring at Leila; ¡°And why should I follow the orders of a lesser? Why should I, an objectively superior being, bow down to someone I can easily defeat?¡±

    Hearing this made Leila grit her teeth while everyone could feel the pressure in the room increasing; ¡°You want to have a go?! I''ll gladly go up to your place and shove your arm down your throat!¡±

    The two continued glaring at each other, Leila¡¯s wings flared out in an attempt of dominance. Bruno, seeing the situation had obviously gotten too hot, tried to calm his boss down; ¡°Leila, let''s not blow the roof of this building off okay? Breathe in, breathe out. In¡­out¡­¡±

    Ice King on the other hand was still sipping on his drink, ignoring the glare Vrystk was giving him; ¡°This is all your fault! If you had only kept your mouth shut, this entire operation would have been easier!¡±

    Ice King however just ignored her and stood back up, dusting off any dust before just walking out. This made President Colt of the NAU raise a brow; ¡°Your Majesty, I believe this meeting is not yet over?¡±

    Ice King just gave him a simple glance; ¡°To me it is. Now if you don''t mind, I would like to stabilize my Empire because a certain someone did not keep their Manchurian citizens in check. Maybe I will stay next time if you don''t keep demanding Alaska from me.¡±

    Ice King then glared at Vrystk before letting out a sigh; ¡°If you do need me, I''ll be at my cadtle. I suppose we''ll meet again next month.¡±

    Ice King gave a two finger salute before using bardic magic to open a nearby window and flew off into the distance.

    Bruno and Leila then also stood up; ¡°We will also be taking our leave. My Queen feels like this demand is not only an attempt to humiliate us but is also threatening the lives of her citizens.¡±

    Bruno was ushering Leila out of the meeting room, not wanting for Vrystk to anger her even more. All the while, Vrystk was just looking at her with a malicious smile.

    The president of the NAU, President Emerson sat back into his chair with a sigh; ¡°This place used to be a place of formalities and respect.¡±

    ======

    Dunkel Reich, Leila''s throne room,

    3 Hours later :

    ¡°-I just don''t understand! What''s her problem with me?!¡± Leila was ranting in her throne room, away from any public eyes while Bruno just watched with a frown

    Bruno spun his fingers in a circular motion, leaving a spell circle behind.This spell circle collapsed into itself and opened a drawer which then pulled out a stress relief ball Leila keeps in one of the nearby tables for when the situation becomes a tad bit too stressful.

    Bruno then handed over the ball to Leila; ¡°Here, hopefully this''ll help a bit.¡± Leila immediately took the ball and squeezed it multiple times before handing it over back to Bruno

    She stood back up from her throne, clearly less stressed than before; ¡°Thanks dude. I¡­really appreciate that.¡±

    Bruno rolled his eyes affectionately and just shrugged; ¡°Least I can do for you after you saved my life and took me in.¡±

    With her energy renewed, Leila immediately straightened herself and combed her hair a bit before looking at Bruno with a bright smile, ignoring her Oracle spirit telling her that something is amiss; ¡°You know what? Let''s just forget about all this diplomatic stuff and have a day out! Nothing and I mean no

    thing will disturb us toda-¡±

    Right as Leila was about to finish, an Italian Noble suddenly came barging into the throne room, his expression filled with panic; ¡°My queen, we have an issue!¡±

 Italian Frontal Assault.

    In Rome, The 3rd, 4th and 5th Vampiric Regiments of the Italian state could be seen hastily digging trenches in front of the city itself, fortifying their positions with everything they can, ranging from cars to even rubble.

    The objective was simple. Slow down the advancing Aegis horde and stop them from gaining a foothold in Europe.

    Currently, the 4th, 5th, 12th and 25th Infantry Divisions made up of Vampires and Daemons from all over the Dunkel Reich were trying their best to hold their position in Rome.

    Using weapons ranging from conventional human weapons such as Electric powered rifles to some of the more bizarre ones such as whips, staves and even their own claws.

    The addition of the disorganized 6th Artillery division stationed in the back lines also proved to be essential in defending the historical city.

    Rome was one of the last major strongholds for the Dunkel Army and subsequently, the next major point for the Aegis army who just suddenly arrived in Italy mere hours after the monthly UN meeting.

    From limited reports, the army consisted of 2 four winged Aegis acting as the field Marshals and many 2 winged Aegis. It was reported that the number of 2 winged Aegis reached up to five hundred thousand Aegis. All of them were reported to already be in Insernia which made the soldiers all the more anxious

    Other than the difference in wing count, all of these Aegis''s looked relatively the same. They had flowing white hair, eyes with dull yellow pupils and wings that looked more heroic than their current intentions.

    One soldier in particular was sweating bullets, the smell of diesel overlapping any other smell; ¡°Why is it so damn quiet ?¡±

    One of the nearby soldiers, a Vampire manning an electric LMG turned his head to face him; ¡°Beats me. At Least we don¡¯t have to fight Valk. Heard he tortured someone for arriving late.¡±

    This silence however did not last long as the sounds of wings flapping and mechanical roars could be heard.

    Over in the distance, a soldier was running for his life; ¡°Run! Fall back to the trenches-¡±

    The soldier¡¯s screams was immediately cut off as he was utterly obliterated by a beam of light.This caused all the younger soldiers who haven''t even encountered an Aegis to panic, ending the eternal silence.

    Many of the Domain of Light¡¯s repurposed Chinese tanks poured in and started blasting, causing debris to fly into the eternal night and obscuring the visions of both armies.

    Behind the tanks were the many divisions of 2 winged Aegis, their voice roaring as they charged for the fortifications.

    A division of Bomber Aegis tried to gain air superiority but luckily for the defenders, they had anti air guns in reserve; ¡°Sir, what are we supposed to stop them?!¡±

    The field Marshal, Viels Ratte who was a native of the Dunkel Reich before the Cascade, had a dull look in his eyes as the reality of the situation kicked in.

    He had faced many battles before. First was the unification of The First Dunkel Reich but this? This was beyond hopeless ; ¡°We don''t. But regardless of what happens, we''ll fight to the last man.¡±

    The Field Marshal then seized a standard issue electric powered rifle, imported from the NAU before charging for the front lines as his voice boomed throughout the battlefield; ¡°For the people, for the motherland!¡±

    ====

    The night sky of the Dunkel Reich in the Northern parts of Sicily was calm as the clouds covered a large portion of it, combining itself with the everlasting darkness of the Dunkel Reich.

    For most families oblivious to the battles happening, it was a rather peaceful night. No fights leveled a bar, no unnecessary rebellions trying to destabilize the country, it was¡­nice.

    But that did not last long before the clouds in the sky parted. 2 objects or rather beings could be spotted zooming in the sky; ¡°Leila, slow down! Let''s at least strategize firs-¡±

    Leila quickly cut Bruno off, her eyes wide with panic; ¡°We don''t have time Bruno! People are in danger! My people! I can''t sit back and strategize!¡±

    Before more could be said though, both of their eyes widened when the smell of gunpowder and blood hit their noses.

    This immediately made Leila''s eyes go wide as she flew faster to the battlefield and the sight of it left her speechless; ¡°Leila, can''t you slow down-Oh god.¡±

    Bruno himself had the same reaction as he watched the carnage that was unfolding. Thousands already lay dead, the tents which housed the medics were reduced to nothing, the soldiers were getting lit ablaze and it did not stop at all; ¡°Why ¡­ WHY DOES SHE NEED TO INVOLVE MY PEOPLE?! WHAT HAVE THEY EVER DONE TO HER?!¡±

    Leila''s scream was drowned out by the sounds of the battlefield but to Bruno who was extremely close by, the tone was clear. Leila was furious; ¡°Leila-¡±

    Whatever Bruno was about to say was ignored by Leila as she screeched and dived straight for the horde.

    Before they could even know what happened, Leila decapitated 4 Bomber Aegis, earning relieved gasps from all the soldiers but Leila was not done.

    No.

    She would make all of them pay. ALL OF THEM.

    Behind her was Bruno who had his fangs tainted with Aegis Blood; ¡°Leila, please just listen-¡±

    Bruno let out a ¡®Woah!¡¯ as he barely dodges a tank shot. Turning his head to the side, he could see the culprit. Behind the thick layers of dust and smoke lay an old refurbished Chinese Tank who were quickly aiming their LMG at him; ¡°Oh no you don''t you shitheads!¡±

    Following this, Bruno then pulled out a crossbow which was equipped with a magazine. The crossbow has an overall gothic theme to it.

    He then fired a bolt in between the Gunner''s eyes , instantly killing the Gunner. This caused the tank crew to panic and fire off another shot near another tank, causing chaos along with confusion in the tank division.

    Bruno capitalized on this confusion by rapidly flying straight for the tank, dodging or parrying anything in his way before finally reaching the first tank.

    He plunged his claws deep into the tank''s insides, ripping through the thick armor and revealing the panicking tank crew. He then gave them a wide and sinister grin; ¡°Hope you don''t mind but I kinda need blood right now.¡±

    Bruno then plunged his claws into one of the Aegis, shredding through his heart and casting a spell which caused the blood of the same Aegis to suddenly shoot out of his back and harden into spikes, hitting the other 2 Aegis in the tank.

    While it barely hit the 2 other Aegis, it did achieve Bruno''s main goal. It made them bleed. His smile widened and he casted yet another spell, causing them all to suddenly freeze; ¡°Blood magic¡¯s one hell of a thing isn''t it?¡±

    but the expression in their eyes made it clear.

    They were in deep agony.

    Not even ten seconds later, their body convulsed He then lunged for another Aegis as he used the blood of the first Aegis to craft himself a morningstar. The third Aegis could only watch in horror as his comrade¡¯s chest was blown wide open by the morningstar.

    Bruno¡¯s irises then turned red as he grabbed the corpse and sunk his fangs into the neck, sucking it dry as if it was a box of juice; ¡°Man, that really hit the spot.¡±

    He then saw that the third Aegis was gone. Looking to his side lazily, he could see that the third Aegis was trying to flee. Not to the other tanks who were busy with getting blown to bits but to the forest.

    This caused Bruno to roll his eyes and let out a groan of frustration; ¡°Ugh, this dude''s gonna be so annoying to catch.¡±

    He then casted yet another spell, turning the morningstar into a spear, using his own blood to tether the spear to him before throwing it straight for the Aegis. It embedded itself into the Aegis¡¯s abdomen, causing Bruno to blink as the spear started to retract back to him; ¡°Not gonna lie, was surprised that it hit but since it did¡­¡±

    He turned the blood whip into yet another weapon, this time being a blood saber and walked over to the crawling Aegis before stomping his foot on the Aegis¡¯s back; ¡°P-Please,spare me!¡±

    His pleas for mercy only fueled Bruno¡¯s anger, causing him to apply even more pressure on the Aegis¡¯s back; ¡°You got yourself involved in this war, killed many of our soldiers and NOW you¡¯re asking for mercy?!¡±

    Bruno spat on the ground next to the Aegis and with one smooth motion, severed the head; ¡°Go to hell.¡±

    ======

    Meanwhile, in the right flank :

    What remained of the 3rd and half of the remaining 4th Vampiric Regiments charged for the retreating disorganized Aegis Army, the smell of blood lingering in the air.

    The 2nd Domain of Light Infantry division was scrambling to follow the rest of the army in retreat, moving through the forests; ¡°And were lost. Great. Just great! First I get drafted out of nowhere and now I''m gonna get eaten by some wild beast. Just great!¡±

    Before anyone could even reply, the captain of the Regiment suddenly stopped dead in his tracks; ¡°We have company.¡±

    Following this, all of them went on full alert, aiming their rifles in every direction.

    Then, out of the bushes came Leila Arcanna herself. Her hair looked unkempt, blood stained her hands and her eyes looked dull. Too dull for someone like Leila.

    With a low voice, she said; ¡°Leave. And I''ll pretend I didn''t see you.¡±

    The captain aimed his rifle at her shakily, his legs trembling in fear ; ¡°And w-why should we?¡±

    Leila threw the head of Valk one of the two 4 winged Aegis sent to command them before then looking at him with a tired look; ¡°Is this enough ¡®reason¡¯? Please, just¡­leave. I''ve already seen enough suffering for today.¡±

    Seeing the head of one of their most prestigious leaders on the floor, the soldiers immediately bolted to get the hell away from her.

    Seeing that all of them were gone, Leila flew to the skies and tears started cascading from her eyes as she remembered the event she witnessed prior.

    *****

    ¡°We need to move guys, come on!¡±

    Leila was ordering a platoon of soldiers, most of them carrying injured comrades to get treatment.

    The ground around her was scorched in multiple places, a result of the light beams shot by the Aegis army and corpses along with equipment from both sides littered the ground

    She was trying her best to help her srmy, not exactly in the mood to kill. Leila flew high above the battlefields in order to confirm that not a single soldier needed help.

    Eventually, she saw something that made her breath hitch. She landed gracefully on the ground once more; ¡°Please be an illusion¡­¡±

    She walked through the ruined town, heart filled with anger and sorrow.

    The air was thick with dust and the smell of blood, a reminder of the gruesome event that had occurred here. After seeing so many charred and collapsed homes, she made a personal note to order the Firefighters to conduct a search and rescue to find any survivors and give the dead a proper burial.

    After what felt like an eternity, she eventually reached what she saw while flying, a collapsed building with a teenage Daemon digging through the rubble desperately, ignoring his bloody hands and broken horn .

    His eyes were filled with tears and despite the injuries he was sustaining, he kept digging ; ¡°P-Please, don¡¯t leave me¡­Please¡± He cried out, his voice cracking like glass; ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry, I promise to be better, just, don¡¯t die!¡±

    Each tear, each plea, each rubble thrown aside only served to pierce Leila¡¯s heart even more. She felt tears leaking from her eyes as she held her mouth in shock.

    She eventually shook herself free of tears and tried to calm herself down, clenching her fists and taking deep breaths.

    Following this, she walked towards the teenager, lowering her wings in an attempt to make herself look less threatening.

    She planned to walk slowly to him to not intimidate him but it seemed like fate had other plans as she spotted something worrying within the dust clouds; ¡°Is that¡­? Wait, the kid!¡±

    What made her worry was the 4 winged Aegis or more commonly known as a [4 WING]. These were more commonly known as the field marshals for the armies of the Aegis and the 3rd most powerful type of Aegis.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Instead of actually commanding his army, this Aegis was strolling through the town, halberd stained with blood; ¡°Ah~ Nothing like a little fun, eh Archimedes?¡±

    The Valkyrie Aegis was known as Valk the Brutal, feared amongst Chinese and Japanese rebels alike for his brutal and downright sadistic actions against anyone he doesn''t like, even his own comrades.

    Perched on his shoulder was his beast, a large eagle-like bird with white feathers and iron-like talons.

    Leila quickly spun a spell circle to sink into the shadows, quickly reappearing behind the boy who was just surprised to the queen herself in front of him; ¡°Y-your majesty.¡±

    Leila grabbed a handkerchief from her pockets and quickly wiped his tears; ¡°Kiddo, I''m gonna need you to be strong okay? I need you to get as far away as you can. Got it?¡±

    The teen quickly nodded before his eyes fell back towards the rubble that was once his home; ¡°B-but Ma and Pa¡­¡±

    Leila took a deep breath before looking back at the teen; ¡°I promise I''ll get them out of there okay?¡±

    At that point the teen was still shaking but let out another nod; ¡°P-please give them back to me.¡±

    Leila gave him a soft smile, her eyes closed; ¡°Of course lil guy. What''s your name?¡±

    The teen gave her a smile in return; ¡°Adam. I''m Adam.¡± Leila was about to tell something else to Adam before being rudely interrupted by an arrow of light hitting her midsection; ¡°Shit. Kid, get out of here, now!¡±

    The kid''s hands trembled but he shook it off and sprinted away towards the outskirts of the town.

    Valk took his time walking over to Leila whilst also dragging his Halberd on the ground, clearly excited about a fight; ¡°Ah! Queen Leila Arcanna herself! It''s an honor, your majesty !¡±

    His voice was filled with a mocking tone and sarcasm but Leila ignored that for the time being; ¡°Yeah yeah, cut the chit chat. Let''s get to fighting.¡±

    Valk flew straight for Leila, his halberd outstretched to try and get a stab in. Leila, seeing the obvious attack, pulled out her sickles and caught the tip of the halberd between the two of her sickles. Valk just continued grinning with his grin looking like it¡¯d reach both his ears; ¡°Ah but of course a simple attack such as that would not work. You are a Hyferion after all!¡±

    Leila swiftly moved her sickles downwards, causing Valk to stumble forwards and giving Leila the opportunity to do a backflip which also made her kick Valk in the jaw.

    After landing, Leila casted a spell, summoning a spirit which repeated her earlier actions and kicking Valk in the jaw once more.

    Leila tried to move in for another swipe only for Valk to catch her by the wrist and force her to discard one of her sickles. Valk tried to stab Leila with his spear but Leila managed to kick Valk in the chest, creating some distance between the two.

    Valk then threw his spear at Leila, aiming to impale her but Leila quickly dodged, letting it fly into the distance.

    She ran towards Valk, aiming to end this as quickly as possible before gritting her teeth as she felt a sharp pain in her right arm.

    Looking towards it, she was shocked to find the same spear has now pierced her arm. She immediately threw the spear away and downed a vial of blood.

    Leila took a glance behind her and a deadpan expression fell on her face; ¡°Of course I forgot about his bird¡­¡±

    Her gaze fell on Archimedes who was perched on a nearby post before her eyes widened when she saw Adam hiding behind some rubble to watch the action in real time.

    Unfortunately for him, Valk saw him and a wicked grin grew on his face as he rushed straight to where Adam was.

    This caused Adam to run as quickly as he could before tripping down. Leila, seeing that one of her subjects was in danger, ran to stop Valk.

    She spun a dark purple spell circle that extended and went through her, manifesting on her back.

    This spell circle then broke off and expanded into 4 shadow tendrils attached behind her that she used to grab Valk by the foot.

    Leila let out a sigh of relief but to her confusion, the grin on Valk¡¯s face did not disappear, it widened even further.

    Then she remembered about Archimedes and immediately moved her head to where Adam was and by the Void, she wished she hadn''t.

    The poor teen''s entire body was covered in cuts, his left arm looked like it went through a blender and his face, oh Void his face¡­

    Seeing that Leila was frozen from both shock and horror, Valk seized the opportunity and spun a light blue spell circle, applying it to himself. He pulled out a dagger and stabbed it through her chest, using the earlier spell, [Organ Targeting spell] to lock onto her heart and kill her.

    And for a moment, it seemed like it genuinely worked. The dagger was going through her flesh but much to his shock and annoyance, it couldn''t even scratch her heart.

    He immediately jumped away from her, danger still in hand. He had a slightly irritated and annoyed face; ¡°Of course. Why wouldn''t your heart be impenetrable? Oh well, I suppose I''ll have to do this the hard way then-¡±

    Valk was quickly cut off by Leila. She had a furious look in her eyes and was glaring straight into his soul; ¡°...Why?¡±

    Valk quickly let out a chuckle; ¡°Isn''t it obvious already Queen Leila? We want the dark singularity.¡±

    Leila''s glare hardened even further before pointing towards the mangled corpse of Adam; ¡°No. I meant, why did you have to involve him? What did he do to you?¡±

    Valk moved his head slightly to take a look at the corpse before a look of understanding came to his face; ¡°Ah, this peasant you mean? It''s simple really. We were told to go on a mission of extermination. To wipe out as many Daemons and Vampires as we can. I am simply just doing my job.¡±

    Right as Leila heard this, the entirety of the town suddenly became darker than before, startling Valk quite a bit.

    His eyes widened slightly before catching an object thrown at him by Leila. His face immediately turned smug at this; ¡°But what is this? A queen resorting to the primitive tactic of throwing an object at me? How pitiful-¡±

    Valk immediately stopped when he felt liquid escaping the object he was holding and immediately turned his head downwards to look at it and his face morphed into a horrified expression; ¡°Archimedes?!¡±

    In his hands was the lifeless body of his pet, Archimedes with a gigantic portion of it being devoured.

    He felt a presence behind him and immediately turned around to stop Leila but he made the wrong decision as his left hand was quickly cut off, courtesy of Leila''s shadow tendril which she had sharpened using her innate connection to it.

    Following this, he tried to punch her but Leila simply caught his fist and crushed it, making him scream out in agony.

    Leila had an emotionless yet furious look on her face as she watched the sadistic man scream out in agony; ¡°Not as fun when you''re on the receiving end is it now?¡±

    She then dipped her arm into a nearby shadow and pulled out a mallet which she slammed into Valk''s knee, letting out a cracking sound as forced Valk onto his knee.

    At this point, Valk''s face was filled with tears of pain yet filled with malice as he looked up to Leila.

    Leila in return lifted him up by his cuffs; ¡°Don''t worry. I am not going to kill you¡­yet. We still have questions for you.¡±

    Valk let out a bloody chuckle before screaming as he spun a spell circle using his broken hand to fix his missing one and pull out a dagger from his waist belt.

    Leila quickly dropped him, not wanting to get stabbed again and waste another perfectly fine vial of blood.

    That was before her eyes widened as Valk plunged the dagger deep into his chest. Valk then let out another bloody chuckle, his voice raspy.

    Leila immediately rushed to pull the dagger out, not wanting Valk to die just yet. She tried to close the chest wound but it kept opening back up.

    Valk opened his mouth for the final time, his mouth filled with the yellow liquid that is Aegis Blood; ¡°Death¡­before dishonor.¡±

    Valk¡¯s body finally went limp, a smile on his face. Not long after this, Leila let out a scream of frustration and grief that echoed throughout Rome itself.

    Leila, in a show of anger and fury manifested shadows around her claws and decapitated Valk''s corpse.

    She then clenched her claws so hard, cyan blood started leaking out of her palm. With shaky breaths, she tried to compose herself; ¡°It''s not your fault, it''s not your fault it''s not your fault¡­¡±

    She then took off into the skies, flapping her wings so hard she could not hear the sound of a large aircraft looming in the distance, the logo of the Slavic Socialist Empire briefly visible behind the clouds.

    *****

    Back with Bruno :

    Screams, gunfires, and the sounds of tanks filled the air as the forces of The Dunkel Reich and Domain of Light clashed.

    Bodies littered the ground, weapons thrown aside, tanks abandoned, blood both purple and gold accumulating into puddles on the ground, it was chaos.

    Bruno slowly moved throughout the battlefield, using abandoned tanks for cover while occasionally taking shots with his crossbow.

    After landing behind yet another tank, this time with a small gash on his shoulder, a result of a stray bullet, he lifted his arm to take a look at his watch and let out a ¡®tch¡¯ of annoyance; ¡°Come on Leila¡­where are you¡­¡±

    Bruno then looked over to his wound and shook his head. He clenched his fists, taking a deep breath before ripping the side open, revealing slightly charred corpses inside; ¡°Thank god there''s some corpses in here.¡±

    Bruno went into the tank, putting his crossbow onto a nearby elevated surface before a body suddenly fell to his side, a result of another artillery barrage from the enemy. Bruno grunted before putting the corpse down near the entrance he made.

    Looking at the state of the corpse, he frowned; ¡°He''d taste like an overcooked steak. That''s one less corpse for me I guess.¡±

    He went deeper into the tank, throwing aside some of the equipment before his eyes landed on a corpse that was mostly intact; ¡°It''s not a 5 star meal but¡­bon appetit I guess.¡±

    His eyes shone a brilliant crimson as he pushed his fangs deep into the corpse''s neck, draining it of any remaining blood.

    He just about finished before hearing his own crossbow load. He quickly touched every inch of his waist to try and find it before his face paled when he remembered where he left it.

    Turning around, he saw an Aegis holding his crossbow, hands shaking from fear when he saw Bruno''s bloodstained hands.

    Seeing that this soldier was clearly not meant for the front lines from how skinny and scared he looked, Bruno took a deep breath, mostly from annoyance; ¡°Look. I''m not in the mood to kill anyone so if you put this crossbow down and follow me, I''ll personally promise you won''t be killed-¡±

    Bruno could not finish his sentence before the arrow was fired and lodged straight into his shoulder, making him let out a grunt of pain.

    Once again, his eyes lit up with a crimson glow, irritated at the soldier. That was before the soldier was hit in the back of the head by Leila, knocking him unconscious.

    Leila''s hair looked messy, hints of bags forming under her eyes and a few holes in her dress but on her face was that usual smile filled with the same enthusiasm she always carried; ¡°Miss me?¡±

    After forcefully removing the arrow and biting his lips from the pain of his body regenerating the wound, Bruno let out a short laugh; ¡°Never in a million years.¡±

    The calm and peaceful moment did not last long however as the sound of too many wings flapping without any coherence made its way into their ears.

    As quickly as they could, the two rushed outside the tank and their eyes widened at the terrifying sight. In the sky were thousands of not more Aegis, equipped with swords, spears and even guns from the World War 2 era.

    Bruno''s mouth hung open from terror as he gripped his crossbow tighter; ¡°Leila. How much longer until the backup arrives?¡±

    Leila''s grip on her sickles became fimer as her eyes burned with rage, the memory of Adam still fresh on her mind; ¡°Two hours. But let''s make sure we end this in less than one.¡±

    Bruno, who was already getting ready to hold their ground, froze. He quickly turned back to look at Leila before seeing her barely contained tears from eyes filled with anger, trembling hands and wings spread out in a show of intimidation to the Aegis who dared to trespass into her kingdom.

    The soldiers who were left, battered from the fight, quickly flanked them, wanting to not abandon their Queen. Leila, despite her fists clenching and unclenching rapidly pointed her sickles at the horde; ¡°CHARGE!¡±

    Without a word, the two flew straight for the horde of Aegis, light shining from behind the Aegis and darkness trailing Leila, making the whole scene look like the start of a legendary battle.

    But that all changed when a small number of Aegis''s were shot down by energy projectiles, causing the whole horde to look around in confusion.

    The culprit quickly revealed itself in the form of a standard S.S.E Frost-06 Jet fighter, the insignia of the Slavic Socialist Empire royal air force proudly emblazoned on it.

    This was followed by more jets coming from within the clouds before a large spotlight suddenly shone from it and the clouds dispersed, making everyone''s breath hitch at what they saw.

    It was an airship, not just any airship, it was the pride of the S.S.E, the Royal Fortress. It had a metal frame and four gyro stabilizers on it.

    On the top was a runway for jet fighters to take off from while on the sides, dozens of cannons both human and magical were present.

    Small pods quickly dropped from the bottom of it and out came thousands of S.S.E Witch Soldiers, engaging with the shocked Aegis horde as soon as they could.

    While all of this was happening, the duo was still busy defending themselves from Aegis from all directions.

    Bruno was spinning magic circles left and right, making spikes, hammers and everything in between. Despite this, he knew it was not long before he ran out of mana, his regeneration relied on the healing aspect of Magic and he had taken one too many direct hits.

    Bruno was contemplating getting Leila and finding retreating. Then, the air itself suddenly became cold before a gunshot rang out across the battlefield. Immediately after this, an Aegis flopped over as a hole opened in his head.

    After the body fell, the culprit was then revealed to be Ice King, holding his custom made revolver, made to fire bullets made from Dry Ice, the Cold Retribution.

    The remaining 4 Aegis tried to flee, the battle being obviously lost. But their hope was quickly shattered as Ice King wordlessly holstered his revolver and started whistling.

    Not long after this, all four Aegis were impaled by a large Ice Spike, splattering golden blood onto his clothing. This made Ice King frown slightly before letting out a sigh; ¡°I suppose I will need to pay the laundromat a visit soon¡­¡±

    Ice King turned around to face Bruno and Leila, making sure his face was as neutral as possible.

    After seeing the duo''s state, his face morphed into that of concern; ¡°Do you require assistance?.¡±

    And that was an understatement. Bruno had puncture wounds that were closing up all over his body, eyes heavy from exhaustion; ¡°Don''t worry about me too much. Go check up on Leila. I don''t think she''s¡­okay right now.¡±

    At the mention of Leila''s name, Ice King quickly snapped his head to the side, looking at Leila who had her bangs covering the top half of her face, her fist clenching and unclenching at an alarming rate and her chest rising and falling way too fast.

    Seeing this, he quickly rushed to Leila''s side, pushing the bangs aside to see her face along with hints of tears in her eyes; ¡°Leila. Calm down, okay? It''s over. My Air Force will push them back.¡±

    Despite Ice King trying to reassure her, Leila was still hyperventilating as she turned her head towards him; ¡°I-Icy?¡±

    Ice King gave her a soft smile; ¡°Yes Leila, it''s me. Don''t worry, you don''t have to fight anymore.¡±

    Leila''s hands quickly latched onto Ice King''s clothing, nuzzling her face deep into it as tears stained the fabric. Her voice then came out, shaky and hoarse; ¡°I-I failed them. I¨CI-I couldn''t protect them, Ice King! T-T-T-¡±

    She was stuttering even more at this point and Ice King let out a quick sigh, face a bit flush from how close they currently were. He was trying to find a way to calm her down before remembering an activity that he read about recently.

    He took a deep breath, steadying himself and making sure he wouldn''t mess it up; ¡°Leila, name me five things you can see.¡±

    Leila, shaken and still having tears in her eyes, opened her mouth and out came a hoarse and shaky voice; ¡°T-the sky¡­Your a-airship¡­You ¡­Bruno and¡­the ground¡±

    Ice King grabbed Leila''s hand and squeezed it reassuringly; ¡°That''s good¡­Now, four things you can feel.¡±

    Leila took a deep shaky breath; ¡°Y-your hoodie, The ground¡­your feathers¡­M-My dress.¡±

    Ice King gave Leila yet another reassuring smile; ¡°That''s it. Can you give me three things you can hear, Leila?¡±

    Leila closed her eyes before her ears visibly twitched; ¡°Your voice, gunshots and¡­the artilleries.¡±

    ¡°How about two things you can¡­uh¡­¡± Ice King''s smile quickly faltered as he began trying to find what the next words were supposed to be.

    Leila let out a chuckle before lightly tapping Ice King''s nose; ¡°It''s smell, Icy¡­¡±

    Ice King rubbed the back of his head awkwardly; ¡°Pardon me. I can''t remember everything I read.¡±

    The two were in a sort of trance, looking at each other''s eyes before a cough was heard.

    Turning his head to the side, Ice King saw Bruno standing there, foot tapping the ground impatiently and on his face was a look of annoyance; ¡°If you two are done staring at each other, we need to move. Reinforcement is already here and seeing as both their leaders are either missing or killed, their army is retreating back to Sicily.¡±

    Following this, Ice King stood up, dusting himself off before then looking over to Leila; ¡°Can you stand up?¡±

    Leila tried to rise up to her feet but her feet quickly started wobbling. Before she could fully fall, Ice King caught her hand and gave her a smirk; ¡°I''m guessing that''s a no then.¡±

    Leila gave Ice King a bashful and embarrassed smile; ¡°Yep. Got a case of the good ol¡¯ jelly legs¡­Hey, can you uhm¡­help me up¡­?¡±

    The question caught Ice King seemingly off guard as a bright blush appeared on his face. Ice King blinked and quickly shook his head before closing his eyes with a thoughtful look.

    He then shrugged before pulling out his scroll-a traditional communication device fitted to now work with smartphones and gave the commander of the air fleet currently in Italy a call; ¡°Commander Praskovya. How is the offensive going so far?...That''s good to hear. Of course, I am calling you for a reason. I will be leaving Italy for talks with the Dunkel Reich about the next course of actions but I want you and the fleet to support the Reich''s ground forces. Ah, make sure the royal fortress heads back for the castle. It takes too much fuel. Understood?...Good.¡±

    Right as Ice King finished his call, he stored the scroll back into his pockets and crouched down right in front of Leila, his back facing her; ¡°Get on.¡±

    Seeing that Leila was clueless as to what he''s implying, he rolled his eyes; ¡°I am carrying you to your castle. Get on quickly.¡±

    Despite the small and unnoticeable blush, Leila obliged and wrapped her arms around Ice King''s neck.

    Seeing that Leila was secured on his back, Ice King was about to take off before looking back towards Bruno with an interested look; ¡°And why are you not following us?¡±

    Bruno shrugged before pointing towards the town ruins on the horizon; ¡°Figured I might as well check them out. Plus, I need to stretch my wings for a bit.¡±

    Ice King nodded in understanding before Leila lightly tapped Bruno''s head and gave him a cheeky smile; ¡°Don''t get yourself killed, idiot.¡±

    Bruno rolled his eyes with amusement present in them; ¡°No promises, Leila. See you at the castle.¡±

    After the two finished their conversation, Ice King''s wings immediately flared out and he along with Leila took off for Germania.

 GERMANIA

    Leila''s Palace;

    Ice King could be seen with Leila still on his back, looking a bit uncomfortable at the fact that a few guards were trying to sneakily tail them and failing terribly at that. He then shook his head with a slight smile; ¡°I suppose this should not have came off as a surprise. You are, after all, a generous and kind woman.¡±

    Leila let out a chuckle, clearly amused by her guards''s antics; ¡°Ehh, these guys worry about me too much.¡±

    Ice King in return then spoke up; ¡°You are lucky to have such caring nobles your majesty. The ones in my empire are¡­quite a bit too loyal to me.¡±

    Eventually, the two reached Leila''s living room. Ice King then opened the door, only to see that Bruno was already sitting on a couch, throwing a ball absentmindedly.

    When he noticed the two of them entering the room, he immediately ran up to meet Leila; ¡°Leila! You okay?¡±

    Ice King lowered Leila from his back slowly and carefully, letting Leila stand on her own before backing away from her right beside Bruno.

    Leila''s legs still shook, causing her to nearly fall before she used the sofa next to her as support.

    Seeing this, Ice King''s expression morphed into worry; ¡°Your Majesty. How are you doing?¡±

    Leila sat on the couch, a reassuring smile plastered on her face as she gave the both of them a thumbs up; ¡°Yep! Doing A-Okay! You boys just go to town and¡­do whatever things boys do, I don''t know.¡±

    Ice King gave Leila a nod before turning around to face the doorway. Bruno however didn''t let her go as easy; ¡°Atr you sure you''re okay? I mean don''t get me wrong-¡±

    Bruno was cut off by Ice King tapping him on the soldiers before he casted an illusion spell to tell Bruno just to give Leila some time alone; ¡°...Fine. we''ll¡­go to town I guess ¡°

    As the two men walked out of the room, Leila immediately buried her hands into her face.

    =====

    Germania ;

    The duo consisting of Ice King and Bruno walked around the bustling streets of Germania, formerly known as Berlin. Magic powered cars, mostly made out of Volkswagen cars, drove past them.

    All around them were people either getting back to home from work or just watching the two of them like some sort of superstar.

    Eventually, they arrive at the intended location, Grornar¡¯s Cafe, a simple cafe serving mostly Dunkel Reich desserts and drinks. This naturally made ice King raise a brow; ¡°Out of all places in this entire state, you chose to bring me to a¡­cafe?¡±

    Bruno gave him a cheeky smile, sitting down before urging Ice King to also sit down which he did with a shrug.

    Ice King folded his wings behind his back before opening his mouth; ¡°So why exactly did you bring us here out of all places?¡±

    Bruno was about to say something before a waiter arrived; ¡°Ah, it is good to see you here sir. Are you having the usual?¡±

    Bruno glanced back at Ice King; ¡°What do you want to drink?¡±

    Ice King politely took the menu from the waiter and looked through the menu, interested in some of the drinks but not exactly wanting to go through a vampire''s diet; ¡°I suppose I''ll have some wine then. Can''t go wrong with those.¡±

    Bruno nodded before turning back to face the waiter; ¡°Get me my usual stuff and a glass of wine.¡±

    The waiter gave him a nod with a smile before turning around to leave. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wave of Bardic and Illusion magic envelopes Bruno.

    Confused as to who casted this, Bruno immediately looked towards Ice King who just finished casting an anti-spying spell.

    With a satisfied smile, he then relaxed once more. Then he moved his gaze back towards Bruno with a neutral expression; ¡°Now, let''s not delay it any further. What is in your mind my dear friend?¡±

    Making sure they were fully invisible from the outside world, Bruno pulled his scroll and handed it over to Ice King; ¡°Took those pictures while scouting. Is it just me or does the marks look awfully familiar?¡±

    Ice King''s eyes widened ever so slightly while looking at the pictures. While it was obvious to him that it was a ruined city which could not be avoided in a war, another thing was apparent.

    A fight had broken out moments prior. Not a simple fight of soldier versus soldiers but more so a battle between two magically powerful beings.

    This was evident by the various mark that seemed to originate from slashes and even vaporisation, making it very likely that a high leveled Aegis was involved.

    His eyes widened as he froze when he saw one glaring detail.

    There were marks on both the ground on walls, it looked like as if a tendril slashed at it multiple times.

    And the only one to use such a technique? Leila.

    When Ice King looked back up to Bruno, he had a pretty serious look on his face; ¡°From that look you''re giving me, I''m guessing you figured it out then?¡±

    Bruno let out a sigh before pointing at the scroll; ¡°Swipe to the left.¡±

    Ice King did as he was told to and was a bit startled to just see a close up picture of a corpse. Squinting his eyes a bit, he could definitely recognize it as Valk the Brutal, a knife in his chest; ¡°This is rather¡­interesting. But why would she use a dagger to kill him?¡±

    Before they could continue further, Ice King quickly dispelled his anti-spying spell as the waiter approached their table.

    Right as the drinks were given, Ice King quickly put the spell back up before Bruno spoke up once more; ¡°I don''t think Leila killed him. That dagger was clearly made by the Domain,¡±

    Taking a sip from his wine, Ice King took a deep breath before releasing it all slowly; ¡°What are you trying to imply here, Bruno?¡±

    Bruno pocketed his scroll, crimson eyes filled with uncertainty; ¡°Call this a hunch but I think he may have killed himself.¡±

    Ice King closed his eyes, hand over his mouth; ¡°You are not in the wrong to make that assumption. I¡­had quite the interesting experience with the Domain''s makeshift air force.¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    Bruno in return, raised a brow, cup halfway raised to his mouth; ¡°What type of¡­experience?¡±

    The sound of gritted teeth made its way into Bruno''s ears as he watched Ice King grip the table and nearly breaking a chunk of it off; ¡°The kind where tens, if not hundreds of them try and crash into you as a hail Mary move to try and kill you when they knew damn well it would not even do anything other than scratch and hurt you.¡±

    Rigt after Ice King said this, Bruno''s face scrunched up from pain; ¡°Oh yeah, that''s gotta hurt¡­¡±

    Ice King slumped into his seat, letting out a sharp whistle which also pulled his glass of wine; ¡°Trust me, You most likely would not like to know the amount of pain I endured flying from Magma Emperor''s palace to Sardegna.¡±

    After saying this, Ice King took an overly long sip of his wine. While sipping the wine, he just stops for a moment; ¡°So, do you mind continuing ?¡±

    The sudden and random question made Bruno raise a brow, confusion apparent on his face; ¡°Continue what?¡±

    Ice King gave Bruno a look best described as ¡°Are you serious?¡± Before putting down his now empty glass of wine; ¡°If you had only wanted to tell me about that, I do not think you would bring me here. Am I right?¡±

    Bruno blinked multiple times from shock before clearing his throat; ¡°Uhh, yeah.¡±

    Ice King raised one of his brows before gesturing for Bruno to continue; ¡°So¡­how much do you know about human history ?¡±

    Ice King cupped his chins before taking a quick breath in and out; ¡°Everything below World War one and anything after the first wave of the Cascade is a blur to me. I still do not understand mankind''s obsession with re enacting the same thing 3 times and making it deadlier everytime.¡±

    ¡°So I take it that you know about Nazi Germany?¡±

    Ice King let out an amused chuckle from this one simple question, finding it a bit humorous; ¡°Ah, may I make a guess then? You are drawing similarities between the Domain and The Third Reich are you not?¡±

    Bruno''s smile now seemed like it was forced onto his face, the sound of teeth gritting prevalent to Ice King; ¡°Can you stop doing that?!¡±

    Ice King in return, let out a small chuckle, clearly being quite amused; ¡°Stop doing what my friend? I am simply¡­using my logical thinking to put two and two together.¡±

    Bruno let out an audible groan right after ice King gave him a toothy smirk; ¡°You''re impossible, Frosty.¡±

    Ice King''s entire calm and reserved demeanor dropped right after Bruno called him that; ¡°What, did you just call me?

    Initially, Bruno''s brows furrowed in confusion before his eyes widened with realization. Subsequently, his mouth then also widened into a shit eating grin; ¡°I struck a nerve there didn''t I, Frosty ?¡±

    Ice King took a long and deep breath, releasing it all in an equally long whistle. Bruno could also see that he was clenching his talons;.¡±Please, do not call me that. I have my limits, Bruno.¡±

    Somehow, someway, the grin on Bruno''s face widened even more which made Ice King get a bit worried; ¡°Oh? Double standards I see. I mean, I wouldn''t blame you. She''s a wonderful woman.¡±

    ¡°What are you implying here, my friend?¡± Ice King''s tone was laced with confusion, somehow not realizing what Bruno was implying

    Bruno wagged his fingers playfully in front of Ice King, having a teasing expression on his face; ¡°Oh come on, Frosty. Leila calls you Icy all the time and yet you weren''t even slightly annoyed. I wonder why?¡±

    Ice King''s face went flush red before quickly standing up. He then stood up before slamming 6 Kr?nemark onto the table; ¡°I''ll be exploring this wonderful city. If you want to find me, don''t.¡±

    Ice King heard Bruno talking behind him, probably either teasing him. Because of this, he put on a pair of old earbuds, connected it to scroll via Bluetooth.

    Following this, he whistled a sharp tune, using his form of spellcasting to easily make himself invisible,leaving Bruno alone; ¡°Oh come on, it was just one joke!¡±

    =====

    Central Germania, 10 minutes later;

    The center of Germania or Berlin as it was called years ago is a bustling metropolitan city but along the streets also laid a few stalls.

    Not far away from the very center of Central Germania was a breath taking view of Leila''s palace. The stores and stalls sold items both familiar and unfamiliar ranging from human items such as books, clothing, spare vehicle parts and even food but that didn''t mean it was all human things.

    In some of the other stalls and shops also were things like blood berries for the vampires, horn wax for the Daemons, training wands for the untrained and most commonly, Mana based technology.

    While most of these shops had their personalities and stories to tell, the one with the most signifsnce would be one Mana Tech shop.

    This shop as per most others had a dark and purple color scheme, music blaring to a very small amount of people, that being 2. The store owner and a customer.

    This customer had pale skin, crimson eyes, pronounced fangs, sharpened nails, pointed ears and navy blue hair.

    He was also wearing a simple black hoodie and jean pants while a pendant hung on his chest.

    He had a rather annoyed look on his face as a scroll laid on the table between him and the store owner; ¡°Well, can you fix it? It has been randomly shutting off every now and then.¡±

    The store owner, a 20 year old female Daemon with curved horns, purple scales on all but her head, neck and upper torso while wearing a gothic looking tank top and jeans along with a pair of wings casually grabbed the scroll and plopped it onto a stone plate.

    Right after this, she then casted a simple spell onto the plate,revealing an intricate circuit of runes and symbols underneath.

    Not even 5 minutes after taking a look into the inner workings of the scroll, her eyes widened from shock. She quickly dispelled the plate before putting the scroll back onto it''s original place; ¡°Yeah, bad news dude. The thing''s internal processing unit''s busted beyond repair. Looked like someone sent way too much Mana or even electricity through it really quickly. Beat I''d give is about a week or so before the entire thing just stops working fully.¡±

    The Customer raised his brow in return; ¡°Then what do you suppose I do?¡±

    The store owner quickly pointed towards an assortment of scrolls and human smartphones sitting behind her; ¡°Just buy an entirely new one. Trust me, saves a lot more time than trying to fix it.¡±

    The customer, clearly restless, quickly posed a question; ¡°Do you mind explaining all of these brands? I am on a tight schedule.¡±

    The Store Owner who was idly chewing on some gum, shrugged before pulling out three devices from their display cases.

    She then lightly flung a smartphone with an apple logo into the air before casting a spell that caused it to hover in the air; ¡°If you travel a lot, use this one. Connects to all cell towers, chargers, etcetera etcetera. Basically, old fashioned but reliable.¡±

    She did the same to a different device, a scroll of paper; ¡°This one''s one of the local ones. I''m sure you''ve seen the teens with this. Powerful, easy to carry and summon and a bunch of other things I''m sure you don''t wanna hear about. But if you are travelling a lot to less magic developed countries, don''t buy this. It can''t connect to the human internet without the network adapters. Another thing to keep in mind, you need to be decently strong with magic for the summon feature.¡±

    Right after letting the Schriftrolle fall back onto the table, she picked up the last device, a smartphone with runes arched onto the back and sides; ¡°This one''s a mix of both. Decent processing power, okay quality runes, can connect to the human internet and can be charged using both electricity and mana. I''d recommend this if you''re not strong in magic or travel a decent amount. Though, I''d make sure to bring a mana bank if you travel to somewhere with less mana mines like Australia.¡±

    The Customer picked up the Schriftrolle, turning it around before pulling out his wallet; ¡°What is the latest model for this¡­Schriftrolle?¡±

    The Store Owner, clearly startled by this request blinked before opening her mouth; ¡°You sure about that? These things get really expensive even for the older models.¡±

    The Customer released a sigh of annoyance before taking a quick in and out breath; ¡°Miss, if I cannot afford such technology, I would not have asked for it now would I?¡±

    The Store Owner had a somewhat offended look on her face, putting her arms up near her head in a sort of show of surrender; ¡°Woah, relax! No need to be so offended dude.¡±

    The customer released yet another sigh, this one sounding heavier than the one before; ¡°Many apologies, Miss. I had quite the stressful day today and I really would like to get this over with.¡±

    The Store Owner had a look of understanding on her face; ¡°Ah, I getcha. So the latest model eh? Let me see what I got in here¡­¡±

    Not long after that, she quickly opened the case behind her, checking smartphone and Scroll boxes before she found a newer Schriftrolle brand model. Quickly opening the box up, she inspected the scroll, making sure it turns on and checking the internet connection before packing it back into the box and handing the box to the customer; ¡°This''ll be¡­375 Kr?nemark.¡±

    The customer''s eyes widened slightly in surprise before blinking a few times; ¡°Ah, you were really not exaggerating¡­do you accept credit cards?¡±

    =====

    5 minutes later :

    ¡°I really have to start making our own brand of Scrolls when I get back.¡± The Customer who had just left the store mumbled to himself before he looked around him.

    When he saw that not a single soul paid any attention to him, he discreetly casted an invisibility spell on himself and then he flew to the skies.

    When he reached the clouds, he dispelled both invisibility and disguise spells, revealing Ice King beneath the disguise; ¡°Hopefully I can return to the Kremlin as soon as I can. I cannot imagine what they would do in my absence.¡±

    Eventually, after quite a bit of flying, he finally reached Leila''s castle but much to his surprise, instead of light chatter and the usual laughter, he heard what could best be described as chaos.

    Curious as to what would be causing an entire palace to be engulfed in chaos, he quietly entered through a window.

    Walking through the hallway, he spotted a guard rushing through the hallways, ordering guards to search through the various rooms of the castle.

    Ice King approached this guard, making sure that his steps were as loud as possible; ¡°Pardon me, my good sir but what is causing all this ruckus-¡±

    Right as Ice King was about to finish, the guard cut him off; ¡°I''m sorry, sir but the entire castle is in full alert. The Queen is missing!¡±

    The guard who he pulled aside quickly rushed, shouting more orders. Ice King blinked from surprise before he heard a familiar voice behind me; ¡°Oh thank God, Ice King!¡±

    Looking behind him, he could see Bruno flying down from the upper parts of the hallway; ¡°Bruno. Why is this entire castle in chaos? I have heard a guard telling me that Leila herself has gone missing. Please, tell me this is not true.¡±

    Bruno bit his lip, looking slightly at the floor; ¡°Yeah, she just¡­left when I came to check up on her. We''ve been searching the entire castle for her but from the results? I''m pretty sure she''s not in the castle at all.¡±.

    Ice King put his talons over his face, moving his to the back of his head and combing through his hair in the process before letting out a sigh; ¡°Do you have a potions lab here? I may be able to cook up a simple tracking potion.¡±

    ¡°I think the alchemists wouldn''t mind us using the lab.¡±

    =====

    Dunkler Palast Potion Lab :

    ¡°-Aaand here we are. Welcome to our potion lab, Frosty!¡±

    After admiring the admittedly impressive looking laboratory which looked like a mix of modern and medieval fantasy aesthetics wise, Ice King''s face quickly contorted into a frown; ¡°You are never letting go of that nickname are you?¡±

    Bruno had a cheeky smile on his face before he put his finger on his chin as his face contorted into a mock thinking expression; ¡°Hmm¡­Nah, I think the name will stay.¡±

    Ice King shook his head to his side lightly, having a small smile on his face; ¡°How about we focus on this, Estralez? Now, can you pass me some blinkroot and elderberries?¡±

    Bruno nodded before searching through the various cupboards for the two aforementioned ingredients. When he did find them, he handed the over to Ice King who was brewing the potion without instructions; ¡°Hey Frosty, not to offend you or anything but uh¡­do you know what you''re actually doing?¡±

    Bruno let out a yelp when Ice King practically slid in front of him to grab another ingredient. Right after he mixed the ingredients in, he turned his head to Bruno with his usual relaxed expression; ¡°You don''t command the biggest spy network without picking up a few tricks from them, Bruno.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah¡­these things are used a lot by epies right? So¡­how does this potion work? Some sort of clue? Or is it like a riddle or-¡±

    Right before Bruno could finish, Ice King quickly cut him off; ¡°She is at a former prison complex.¡±

    This understandably caught Bruno off guard, making his mouth open ajar slightly; ¡°How-Y-You just brewed the potion!¡±

    Ice King stepped aside to let Bruno take a good look into the cauldron, only to see an

    aerial view of the building Leila was in, Auschwitz-Birkenau.

    ¡°The potion uses a small amount of Oracle magic to possess any animal near the target. And yes, I do know what the building she is in once was. My only question is why.¡±

 History never repeats itself but it does rhyme

    The rain lashed against the cracked pavement, thunder rolling overhead like the sounds of artillery.

    Auschwitz-Birkenau stood, the walls preserved to commemorate the tragedy that had transpired within.The shadowed ruins of Auschwitz-Birkenau whispering of over half a million stolen lives.

    Leila Arcanna emerged from the building, her steps slow, her expression a mish-mash of confusion and weariness. For once, she didn¡¯t summon her powers to shield her from the rain like she had done for many times. The rainwater soaking through her clothes felt right, as if the universe itself demanded she endure every drop. She was too drained to care.

    She paused, her wings twitching at her back. She was going to fly back to her castle, retreating to the solace of stone walls and venting her frustration to her close friend; it seemed like the only option. But before she could act, a force collided with her, slamming her into the wet ground.

    Looking up, she saw the angry and worried face of Bruno

    ¡°Leila, do you know how damn worried we were?!¡± Bruno¡¯s voice cut through the storm as he pinned her down.

    Before she could even retort, a shadow loomed above them. Ice King stood there, even more silent than he usually is while an umbrella was held tight in his taloned grasp. His eyes scanned her face, his frown deepening at the exhaustion etched into her features.

    ¡°S-sorry,¡± Leila murmured, struggling to sit up. Her voice barely carried over the rain. ¡°I¡­ I just needed some air.¡±

    Bruno¡¯s glare didn¡¯t soften. ¡°Air? Air?! You disappeared without a word, and we¡¯ve been tearing the city apart looking for you!¡± His hands tightened on her shoulders. ¡°You saved my life once, Leila. I owe you everything. But that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ll let you self-destruct!¡±

    A cold talon rested on his shoulder. Ice King gestured toward the nearby bus station with a silent command. Reluctantly, Bruno stood, hauling Leila up with him.

    He walked her toward the shelter, the rain splattering noisily around them onto the pavement and roof of the bus station. When they finally stopped under the cover, Bruno turned to her, his tone sharper than a blade. ¡°All right, spill it. What were you doing in that place?¡±

    Leila bit her lip, her gaze falling to the ground. Guilt churned in her eyes, her voice barely audible; ¡°I-I just wanted to know¡­¡±

    The rain kept pouring, a relentless melody against the concrete. Water clung to her hair and ran down her face, not mixed in with tears yet. Ice King waved a hand, forming an Ice barrier that deflected the relentless downpour.

    Bruno shrugged off his jacket, draping it over her trembling shoulders; ¡°Leila,¡± he said, his voice softening but not losing its edge; ¡°what the hell were you looking for? You already know how terrifying these places were. I told you everything.¡±

    That was when the dam broke. Tears spilled freely, mingling with the rain still clinging to her cheeks. Her voice cracked; ¡°I don¡¯t know, okay?! I thought¨Cafter all this time, I thought everyone has some good in them! I-I thought¡ª¡±

    She broke down entirely, stammering incoherently as sobs shook her frame. Bruno let out a heavy sigh, placing a hand on her back and rubbing it gently; ¡°You thought there was still good in Vrystk. That you could¡­ save her.¡±

    Her faint nod was enough as an answer.

    Bruno¡¯s voice turned grim. ¡°Listen, Leila. People change. It doesn¡¯t matter if they¡¯re human or not. After what you both went through, it doesn¡¯t surprise me that she¡¯s gone down this path. It¡¯s not fair, but that¡¯s life. Sometimes, change is for the better. Other times¡­¡±

    Leila buried her face in her hands, her talons pressing into her temples. Her sobs were ragged, her words raw; ¡°I just¡­ I just can¡¯t believe she did this, Bruno! Vrystk! Of all people! She was my friend! The kindest person I knew, and now she¡¯s¡ªshe¡¯s-¡±

    ¡°A dictator,¡± Bruno finished grimly.

    Ice King, silent until now, lowered himself to sit beside her. His cold gaze fixed on the horizon, voice steady and deliberate; ¡°I can¡¯t pretend to understand the bond between you two. But this is what I do know: you must confront her. Demand the answers you deserve, Your Majesty. No matter how many good memories you share with her, her actions are unforgivable. She orchestrated a massacre on your land. That cannot be ignored.¡±

    Leila¡¯s breath hitched, her chest tightening. ¡°I-I don¡¯t even know if I can. Vrystk has spent years building her army on Earth. How are we supposed to fight that? I can¡¯t even hold my country together!¡±

    Ice King¡¯s grin cut through the tension, sharp as ice cracking under pressure. ¡°Oh, Leila. Do you honestly believe the other nations will let this go unanswered? This¡ªthis is the excuse we¡¯ve been waiting for. Vrystk¡¯s Domain has poked the hive for too long. The world is hungry, and the Domain of Light is the dinner. You¡¯re not as alone as you think.¡±

    As the rain continued pouring down onto the front gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Ice King stood back up and spread his wings out; ¡°I best get going now. I have not checked up on my country for quite a while and I would like to know how many were injured during the skirmish.¡±

    Ice King quickly whistled out a simple spell, deflecting any raindrop away from him. Right as he was about to take off, he suddenly paused; ¡°Ah, Your Majesty. The funeral for the deceased is soon correct?,¡± Right after Ice King asked this question, Leila nodded slightly; ¡°You know, grief can be weaponized. With enough charisma and righteous fury, grief can be used to rally people towards a cause. Use that information wisely.¡±

    As soon as he finished talking, Ice King sprinted before taking off, creating a small crater in the drenched street from the force of him taking off.

    Not long after that, 4 Shadow Tendrils sprouted from Leila''s back, helping her stand back up all while resolve filled every pore of her body; ¡°I-Icy¡¯s right. She might have been my friend but she caused so many deaths! I will get those answers from her one way or another!¡±

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Bruno,¡± she said, her voice steady now, commanding; ¡°Call off Parliament. Gather everyone in front of the Reichstag. I¡¯m making an announcement.¡±

    =====

    The grassy space in front of the historical building was filled with citizens of the Dunkeles Reich and even some of its vassals. The field was loud, caused by the many chatters of both Daemons and Vampires wondering what this sudden event was about. One thing most would agree on is that it was directly caused by the incident that occured in Italy which left thousands dead and even more grieving.

    Then, as it seemed like the Queen herself was going to be late as per usual, she finally arrived on stage. Clad with a more formal outfit, Leila was also accompanied by none other than Bruno himself who was wearing a hybrid between a Knight''s armor and a formal suit.

    As soon as she stepped in front of the microphone, a flurry of reporters suddenly rushed to try and interview her. Microphones were thrusted forwards, cameras flashed and questions overlapped each other.

    The guards stationed in front of the makeshift stage set in front of the Reichstag tried to stop the reporters but we''re getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of them, coming from all over the world.

    The entire crowd fell silent as a loud ¡®BANG¡¯ was heard. Behind Leila was Bruno who held up his fingers like a gun. There was a bloody hole visible on his index finger as a similarly sized hole appeared on the ceiling of the Reichstag.

    Hearing the crowd slowly shutting up, Leila finally started her speech; ¡°Thank you. As you all know, an attack was launched into Rome. Our lands. Our dignity. OUR PEOPLE! All gone! All because of greed! All because of power! Lives were lost! And who is to blame? The Domain of Light! They not only have killed our people but they have also stomped on our honor! Our dignity!¡±

    Following this, Leila took a deep breath; ¡°AND ARE WE GOING TO SIT STILL?! WATCH WHILE THEY TREAT US LIKE VERMIN?! This land was once home to 3 devastating wars! Wars that redefined history! And for the Daemons! I may have not been my mother during the Grand War but we were the victors of it! We defeated Volkovich himself! The tyrant who killed his own men! What Empress Vrystk has done is no less than telling us that she is stronger than us.¡±

    Then, she closed her eyes tightly, while clenching her talons. Shortly after this, she slammed her talons onto the podium; ¡°The Dunkeles Reich is now officially at war!¡± This single announcement caused the silent crowd to finally become loud again but this time, even Bruno couldn''t keep the reporters from bursting right through the guards to get an interview from her.

    Leila however ignored all these reporters and instead looked towards the mass of cameras pointed towards her; ¡°And we hope we are not alone in this war. The Domain has acted like it is untouchable, like it is invincible. But in reality, it is weak.¡±

    Leila then turned around, about to walk away before remembering something; ¡°Oh. And as for you, Vrystk.¡± A few drops of tears fell onto the floor along with Leila¡¯s talons rapidly clenching and unclenching.Not a single person noticed or even if they did, they did not comment on it; ¡°Please. I only want answers. What happened to you?¡±

    As soon as she finished her final words, she immediately walked off stage, followed by Bruno.

    In the quiet backstage, Bruno glanced at her, his expression a mix of awe and concern; ¡°Leila, that was¡­ intense. Did you plan all that?¡±

    Leila blinked, her cheeks flushing; ¡°I-uh-kind of¡­ made it up as I went?¡±

    Bruno sighed, running a hand through his hair; ¡°You realize you just declared war without consulting the generals, right?¡±

    Leila¡¯s awkward smile did little to ease his exasperation; ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ take care of it. Eventually.¡±

    The two were going to converse further. That was until they saw a guard falling to the ground behind them before getting encompassed by news reporters.

    Leila in return let out a squawk, materializing a shadow tendrill to carry Bruno before flying off back to her castle.

    =====

    Crystal Palace;

    The Crystal Palace, a truly amazing feat of architecture. One that combined Tibetan and Japanese architecture along with hints of Aegis culture. The castle itself is fortified to the teeth with thousands of guards patrolling the walls alone. It was both a fortress and a palace.

    On each of the 12 towers embedded into the walls of the palace were Anti-aircraft guns along with landing zones for the many Aegis¡¯s that usually enter the castle to meet with the Grand Empress herself, Vrystk.

    The throne room housing Vrystk was brimming with activity, mostly from the high ranking military officers of the Domain itself. Vrystk was sitting in her gigantic crystalline throne, a giant banner of the Domain of Light behind her; ¡°General Hirohiko, what is your current plan for this war?¡±

    General Hirohiko, an 8 winged Aegis who was discussing battle plans with his subordinates immediately abandoned whatever he was doing and bowed down to Vrystk; ¡°My Empress. The best plan of action currently is to not launch a direct assault but in my opinion, go on the defensive until¡­they-¡± He spat out the word they as if it was an insult; ¡°-deplete their resources. Then, the Army shall secure whatever point they are teleporting to. This will effectively end their assault dead in their tracks and let us launch counter offensives ¡°

    The General looked proud of himself, apparent by the satisfied smile on his face. That was before Vrystk stood up, walked to where the map was and looked at their battle plan all while the other military officers fled the table to stand near the general.

    Her eyes scanned the map, admitting to herself that this was a pretty good battle plan. The General idea is to completely abandon the rural area of XinJiang and Tibet, an area the Domain didn''t really bother to modernize that much which left that area without any anti portal technology. In return however, the area is a no man''s land. It is filled to the brim with Beasts and Mines.

    Vrystk then took a look everywhere else and had an expression of anger behind her mask. She brandished her Sky Piercer, a light spear and deployed all 10 of her wings which made hendice bulbs floating around her head also light up; ¡°General. Do you mind telling me why you only fortified the fallback line?¡± Vrystk''s tone was even colder than usual, making everyone in the room very nervous; ¡°Uhm, you see my Empress-¡±

    Hirohiko was unable to even have the honor to finish his sentence before a light spear grazed his cheeks and flew straight into the column behind him, causing the extremely well engineered column to collapse.

    Looking up with fear, he saw Vrystk''s right eye glowing yellow and right below her chest and cloak was the Light Singularity, a star-like object that both glowed impossibly bright and at the same time, caused the area around it to darken. Behind Vrystk was a literal swarm of light spears, swords and the such.

    To make the situation even worse for the poor man, she was now wearing her armor, made of light. Something she usually saves when she''s quite angry; ¡°Did I stutter when I gave out that order? Make sure all enemies are dealt with. Even if they aren''t at war with us right now, do you think that will continue? The Dunkeles Reich¡¯s Queen has urged other nations to help her in this war.Now, tell me General. Why are there no troops on our Northern and Southern borders?! Do you want a public execution? I don''t think so. Fix it. Or I will fix your entire existence.¡±

    Not paying the trembling Aegis on the floor, she spun around and dismissed the Light Singularity; ¡°I want the fixed plan to be on my desk by tomorrow morning at the latest. Do not disappoint me.¡±

    Then, without a word, she disappeared into light particles, leaving all the staff in the throne room, including the janitor and two other eight winged Aegis scrambled in panic.

    ====

    Vrystk''s room;

    Multiple particles of lights suddenly merged together, forming Vrystk from the feet up, wearing a night gown before flopping down onto her bed; ¡°Ughh, why do these guys have to be so idiotic! Of course they''re gonna go to war with us! We''ve been doing shit to them for year!¡±

    Vrystk shook her head before grabbing her scroll from under her pillow, logged into her YouTube and put a soothing song. Right after this, she went to her bookcase and picked out a novel and laid down on her bed. After three pages, she sighed; ¡°Hopefully, this all goes well,¡±

    She then looked at a framed picture, a picture of her hand her parents back before their death; ¡°I know you are probably not proud of me for this. Turning Acadia into a dystopian hellscape but¡­I''m doing all of this for you two,¡±

    She then looked towards a picture of her and Leila back in their teen years; ¡°Leila, please just for once, trust. I-You one of the last remnants of my old life¡­,¡±

    ====

    5 hours later, with Leila;

    ¡°Soo¡­Why aren''t we directly teleporting into XinJiang or Tibet? And uh, why is everything kinda¡­all over the place?¡± Leila asked, standing near a giant circular table with a map of the Chinese regions. The room was also quite messy with furniture thrown around, physical maps torn and even discarded food wrappings

    The General of the Dunkeles Reich, a Daemon from the first empire spoke up; ¡°Pardon me my queen but we¡­didn''t exactly have much time to plan this war out. If you had informed us about this war or at least waited a week more, we would probably have a better war plan than¡­this,¡±

    The General then straightened up before casting a spell, causing the miniature pieces on the table to disappear and the miniature soldier pieces to appear in XinJiang and Tibet; ¡°You see my queen, if we send our entire army to these regions, I doubt they would have any military presence in these regions. The reason? Simple. Because it is not important to them,¡±

    He then swept his hand over the map and revealed another set of miniature figures in defensive positions right outside both regions; ¡°I suspect that they have defenses set everywhere but these regions instead. Furthermore, surprise is the key to victory so I suggest we do this instead,¡±

    He reset the map again before about an eighth of the army was in XinJiang, digging defensive positions. A quarter of it sat at the southern coast while the rest sat in the Domain''s Lower Mongolia puppet. All the arrows protruding from the strike teams, suggesting that they would employ a swift technique that relies heavily on coordination with the Eurasian Socialist Commonwealth¡¯s air force to cause as much chaos as they can.

    The General quickly dismissed all the illusion spells before talking to Leila; ¡°My strategy is simple. We use an old human technique employee during their second world war called-¡±

    ¡°Blitzkrieg. Of course.¡± Came another voice, Bruno who looked like he just ran a marathon

    Leila had a big grin across her face, clearly happy to see Bruno; ¡°Bruno! So what did Icy say?¡±

    Bruno held up his thumb after slamming down onto the chair, sweat running down his forehead; ¡°He¡­said yes. Now let me get some rest, I just flew from Berlin to Moscow back to Berlin in less than 6 hours!¡±

    Right before he fell asleep, Bruno perked up again; ¡°Oh yeah, Frosty¡¯s coming by the way. Don''t know what he wants but he said he has an idea or something, I don''t know.¡±

 Royal Fortress

    The ESC Royal Fortress thrummed like a living titan, its mana-fueled engines consuming raw mana with the appetite of a titan. Floating high above the earth, this aerial behemoth represented the pinnacle of Eurasian Socialist Commonwealth ambition, a moving fortress in the skies, forged just two years ago after unification. It loomed over all with an air of steady, unshakable control.

    Within the polished sanctuary of his private office, Ice King stood by the broad window, one taloned hand resting lightly on the frame. He turned his gaze to Dmitry Vitaliy, the head engineer of this incredible vessel, whose stance betrayed the weight of his position. Clipboard in hand, the man¡¯s brow furrowed in thought even before the conversation began.

    ¡°Head Engineer,¡± Ice King said, his tone calm but carrying some form of expectation; ¡°Are you telling me we¡¯re already at our limit? This ship is supposed to defy expectations, not be bound by them.¡±

    Dmitry cleared his throat, adjusting his grip on the clipboard. ¡°Sire, the modifications you¡¯re asking for¡­ I would need to bring the Fortress to a full stop and dock. There¡¯s no way to safely implement them mid-flight.¡±

    Ice King exhaled softly, smoke curling from the end of his cigarette. He took a slow drag, his crimson eyes half-lidded in thought. ¡°Understood, Dmitry. Do what you can for now, and when we land in Germania, prioritize the upgrades. You¡¯re dismissed.¡±

    Relief flickered across Dmitry¡¯s face as he bowed and exited the room. Ice King watched him leave, lingering in the temporary quietness before summoning his scroll with a simple gesture. The enchanted parchment unrolled itself in midair, glowing faintly as he opened the messaging app with a flick of his finger.

    ---

    The Ice_King:

    Hello, is this Estralez?

    04947 56 86 36:

    Frosty? When did you get a new number?

    The Ice_King:

    Not important. Have you arrived at the palace?

    04947 56 86 36:

    Yep.

    04947 56 86 36:

    One second. Be right back.

    The Ice_King:

    Estralez? Are you there?

    ---

    The lack of a reply earned only a faint raise of Ice King¡¯s brow. He dismissed the scroll with a lazy wave, letting it vanish into faint motes of mana as he turned toward the door. His destination was already set, and his pace steady as he stepped outside, the town of Susanin sprawling beneath the reinforced interior.

    Here, the streets were lined with asphalt, narrow but bustling with quiet activity. The hum of mana lamps overhead bathed the town in a serene glow, illuminating small homes, caf¨¦s, and shops that gave the airship its heartbeat. Families of crew members mingled with the workers, their faces familiar to Ice King as he passed by. He nodded now and then in greeting, exchanging brief words with those who stopped him.

    At a small restaurant near the center square, a group of witches huddled over steaming cups of hot chocolate, laughter mixing with the low murmur of their conversation.

    Ice King paused for a moment to greet them, a fanged smile tugging at the corners of his lips. ¡°Ladies, I trust you are all taking a well-earned rest?¡±

    One of them, a dark-haired witch with sharp green eyes, gave him a small grin; ¡°Trying to, sire. Though I imagine it won¡¯t last long.¡±

    He chuckled softly. ¡°Enjoy it while you can. You will need your full focus soon enough.¡±

    Leaving them to their meals, he made his way toward the library, his steps slow yet purposeful. The grand double doors of the library swung open at his touch, revealing rows upon rows of towering shelves, their contents neatly cataloged¡­or it was supposed to be.

    ¡°I do hope that the other clients actually return the books where they got it from. Otherwise, I may have to make an announcement just for this miniscule issue.¡± Right after this, he then walked to the counter, a time in his hands

    Behind the counter, a lanky red-haired witch greeted him with a cheerful nod. ¡°Ah, good to see you again, sire. Another visit to the Magic section I suppose?¡±

    Ice King held out a worn tome in his hand; ¡°Yes, and I¡¯ll be returning this.¡± His tone was light, almost like having a conversation, as he placed the book on the counter.

    The witch accepted it with a small bow; ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll get this sorted.¡±

    Ice King moved toward the shelves, his sharp eyes scanning the spine of the books. It didn¡¯t take long for him to find what he was searching for: Aegis 101. The book sat perched on a high shelf. With a flick of his fingers, a soft tendril of mana pulled it down into his waiting hand.

    ¡°Finally,¡± he muttered under his breath. ¡°It¡¯s always in the worst possible spot. I should send someone to reorganize this section.¡±

    Settling into a private reading alcove near the back, Ice King flipped the book open, his sharp gaze quickly scanning its pages. He set the snack he¡¯d picked up earlier to the side, pausing between bites to jot down notes in a small leather-bound journal.

    ¡°This is more detailed than I thought,¡± he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper; ¡°I¡¯ve never bothered to go this deep into their hierarchy before¡­ but it seems vital now.¡±

    He scanned through the section on Aegis ranks, his brows lifting ever so slightly as he read aloud;

    ¡°¡®Aegis hierarchy is determined by both wing count and magical prowess. While rulers traditionally bestow higher ranks, natural evolution of wings is not unheard of. The ranks ascend from Normal to Valkyrie, Aurion, and Aetherial. Despite public denials, credible accounts of Queen Vrystk¡¯s daughter, wielding ten wings, persist.¡¯¡±

    Closing the book with a soft thud, Ice King leaned back in his chair, exhaling slowly; ¡°So much for that cover-up. She¡¯s practically advertising it.¡±

    He leaned back, exhaling as a memory of his last skirmish resurfaced; ¡°Wings are their weakness¡­ Would have been nice to know before charging in headfirst.¡±

    Hours passed unnoticed. The once-tidy alcove now bore the marks of his focus : scattered notes, discarded tomes, and empty snack wrappers. His straight posture was replaced by a slight hunch, exhaustion etched into his features.

    ¡°I could try¡­¡± he muttered to himself, scribbling furiously before pausing; ¡°No, that wouldn¡¯t work against anything above Valkyrie. Waste of mana.¡± He growled in frustration, tearing out the page and tossing it onto the growing pile of crumpled papers.

    He barely registered the sound of approaching footsteps until they stopped at the entrance to his alcove; ¡°Zoran, just leave the vodka on the table. I¡¯ll deal with it later,¡± he mumbled, attention still fully on his research

    A familiar voice cut through his haze, causing him to freeze up; ¡°Icy?¡±

    Ice King froze, slowly turning to see Leila and Bruno standing there, both looking at him with a mixture of concern and exasperation. Bruno was lugging two duffel bags, while Leila¡¯s sharp eyes zeroed in on the dark circles under Ice King¡¯s eyes.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°I¡­ was researching,¡± he said awkwardly, his voice trailing off as Leila marched over and cupped his face, forcing him to meet her gaze.

    ¡°Icy! Have you even slept?!¡± she asked in disbelief, turning his head both ways as if inspecting him for cracks.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Your Majesty,¡± he said, his voice carrying hints of exhaustion as he gently pulled away, a faint blush coloring his pale cheeks.

    Bruno snorted; ¡°Dude, you look like you¡¯ve been through finals week. And this-¡± he gestured to the chaotic state of the alcove ¡°-looks like my room after a party!¡±

    With a flick of his wrist, Ice King summoned a spell circle, incinerating the discarded notes and wrappers in an instant. Dusting off his coat, he grabbed his journal and straightened; ¡°There. Problem solved.¡±

    Leila and Bruno both stared at him, unimpressed.

    ¡°What?¡± Ice King asked, genuinely perplexed; ¡°I cleaned up, didn¡¯t I?¡±

    ====

    Susanin, 10 minutes later :

    ¡°I still fail to see your reasoning,¡± Ice King muttered, his voice carrying his exhaustion as he was flanked¡ªno, wedged¡ªbetween Bruno and Leila. The two of them pressed into him as if he might make a run for it, their determination stifling; ¡°I already told you, I¡¯m fine.¡± He emphasized the last word, his Icy gaze flicking between the two.

    Bruno huffed, disbelief etched into every line of his face. ; ¡°Dude, we¡¯ve known each other for years now, and this?¡± He gestured dramatically at Ice King¡¯s messy hair and less-than-pristine clothing. ¡°This is not you. You¡¯re practically the definition of prim and proper-right behind Vrystk, of course. She''s the grandmaster of ¡®Prim and proper¡¯.¡±

    Ice King rolled his eyes, the gesture slow and deliberate, showing his exhaustion; ¡°Fine. I look messy. Is that what you wanted to hear?¡±

    Leila glared at him, eyes expressing anger; ¡°Icy! You¡¯ve got to start prioritizing yourself. What¡¯s the point of all this if you burn out before we even get to the battlefield?¡±

    Before the argument could spiral further, they arrived at the door to his office-a mix of workspace and private refuge. Bruno and Leila exchanged a look before turning expectantly to the lock. Ice King groaned, muttering a spell under his breath before the door clicked open with a faint hum.

    ¡°Home sweet home¡­ I suppose,¡± he said flatly, stepping inside.

    The room resembled a winter cabin more than an office. A crackling fireplace dominated one wall, its warmth offset by the cold tones of ice-blue d¨¦cor. A couch faced the flames, while a compact kitchen nestled to one side. Everything spoke of practicality laced with quiet elegance.

    Without a word, Ice King disappeared behind a curtain, the soft rustle of fabric accompanying his transformation. He emerged in casual attire: loose shorts and a sleeveless shirt that bared his frost-blue feathers and slim feathered arms. The shift in his appearance was startling, his usual regal aura muted into something softer, almost approachable.

    Crossing the room, he opened a panel in the wall to reveal a hidden king-sized bed. He turned toward his companions, expression unreadable, but the faintest tilt of his head gestured toward the bed in silent invitation.

    Leila shrugged, brushing off the tension in the room as she made a dash for the couch; ¡°I¡¯ll take the couch-whoa!¡± She stumbled as Bruno¡¯s hand shot out, gripping her shoulder firmly.

    ¡°Nope,¡± Bruno said, already making himself comfortable on the couch; ¡°You¡¯re sleeping with Frosty.¡±

    Leila froze mid-step, her face igniting in crimson; ¡°W-what?! Why me? You sleep with him!¡± she stammered,  turning around to meet Bruno.

    But Bruno had already closed his eyes, feigning sleep with a loud, exaggerated snore. Leila glared daggers at him, her mouth opening to argue further before she caught sight of Ice King out of the corner of her eye.

    Her blush deepened as she took in the sight before her. She¡¯d never seen him out of his usual attire, and it was¡­ jarring. His feathers shimmered like frost under moonlight, soft yet somehow commanding. His wings wrapped around him loosely, an almost protective cocoon, while his lean frame carried an understated strength. It wasn¡¯t the cold, calculating ruler she was used to-it was someone almost¡­ vulnerable.

    Cursing Bruno under her breath, Leila retreated behind the curtain to change into her nightgown. When she emerged, she hesitated by the bed, fidgeting with her hands as a thousand doubts appeared in her mind.

    Ice King stirred, his crimson eyes flicking open lazily. He shifted his wings, creating a space beside him, and gestured to it with a casual pat; ¡°Sleep. I am not repeating myself.¡± His tone was firm, brooking no argument.

    Leila swallowed hard, her pulse quickening as she climbed into the bed. The warmth of his wings radiated faintly, like sunlight filtered through frost, and she felt her cheeks flush further as she settled beside him.

    She cursed Bruno again silently, though her thoughts was elsewhere as her gaze flicked back to Ice King. His face, usually so wary and confident, seemed peaceful in the dim light, the soft rise and fall of his breathing strangely comforting.

    Before her thoughts could spiral further into her predicament, exhaustion claimed Leila like a mist, dragging her into a dreamless abyss where even her memories couldn¡¯t reach her.

    ====

    ¡°No¡­ no¡­ No!¡±

    Ice King jolted upright, light blue eyes wide, chest rising and falling like a ship in a storm. Cold sweat glistened on his pale skin, sticking stray strands of blue hair to his temple as he cast his gaze around the dimly lit room. Shadows loomed long and menacing, but none reached for him. Still, the phantoms of his dream were threatening to claw back out, their claws lingering just out of reach.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a dream,¡± he muttered, voice low and hoarse; ¡°Just another stupid nightmare¡­¡±

    He ran a hand through his hair, breathing out sharply. The bed creaked faintly as he shifted to lie back down. That was until he felt it. The soft exhale of breath on his neck, warm and steady. Ice King froze. Slower than a hostage negotiation and without a single sound, he turned his head.

    Leila.

    She was tucked close, her dark hair brushing her cheeks, her breathing rhythmic and serene. Her hair spilled like ink across the pillow, and most embarrassingly, her arm was draped over his waist, fingers grazing his chest

    A sharp, undignified squawk escaped him before he slapped a hand over his mouth. Heat flared across his cheeks, searing through his usual icy composure. His wings twitched and ruffled, betraying his growing embarrassment.

    Carefully and painfully, he began the excruciating process of extricating himself. He moved inch by inch, fighting both the blanket¡¯s cruel grasp and the weight of her arm, which tightened unconsciously whenever he shifted too much.

    ¡°This is ridiculous¡­¡± he hissed under his breath, his glare directed at the ceiling like it had orchestrated the admittedly ridiculous incident .

    Finally, with a quick whistle and a faint shimmer of magic, her tight grip loosened. He slipped free, breathing a sigh of relief before walking silently toward the miniature kitchen. Pulling a bottle of Vodka from his personal stash, he poured himself a glass, but faint murmurs from the next room caught his attention.

    Following the sound, he found Bruno perched in the sitting area, his scroll glowing softly in the dark. The young man''s voice was low, stained with quiet emotion.

    ¡°Ma¡­ I¡¯ll be safe, don¡¯t worry. Yeah, I¡¯m heading for the capital¡­ Ma, I¡¯ve got Leila and The Ice King with me. I¡¯ll be fine¡­ Love you too.¡±

    Bruno ended the call with a sigh, his fingers brushing the edge of the scroll. There was a faint, wistful smile on his face as he stared into the distance.

    ¡°Care for a drink, my friend?¡± Ice King¡¯s voice cut through the quiet like a knife through butter.

    This caused Bruno to become startled, nearly dropping his scroll. His gaze snapped to Ice King, who was now seated beside him with two glasses of Vodka in hand; ¡°Do you have to sneak around like that?¡± he muttered with frustration, shaking his head before taking the offered glass.

    The first sip had him recoiling, his face twisted in a grimace; ¡°The hell is this? Jet fuel?¡±

    Ice King smirked, taking a long sip of his own without so much as a blink; ¡°Thay my friend is Vodka.Straight from my personal stash.¡±

    Bruno coughed, setting the glass down like it was some sort of hazardous material; ¡°How do you even drink this stuff?-Wait, don¡¯t answer that. I already know.¡±

    ¡°Tolerance,¡± Ice King replied simply, blue eyes glinting with faint amusement; ¡°Now, tell me. What troubles you? Your conversation just now seemed¡­ weighted.¡±

    Bruno exhaled heavily, leaning back in his chair; ¡°It¡¯s my parents. I was supposed to visit them this week.You know, before all this mess started. Now, I¡¯ve gotta push it back¡­again.¡± His fingers tapped against the armrest, frustration etched into his posture.

    Ice King tilted his head, the sharp lines of his face softening; ¡°I take it you¡¯re close with them?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you could say that.¡± Bruno¡¯s voice was quieter now, tinged with unsaid emotions; ¡°They¡¯re strict as hell, but they¡¯re good people. When I got caught in the cascade and ended up like this¡­¡± He gestured at himself, his claws flexing slightly; ¡°They didn¡¯t flinch. Didn¡¯t treat me any different. Just kept being them, you know? It¡¯s¡­ rare. I¡¯ve heard enough stories to know how lucky I am.¡±

    He ran a hand over his face, sighing deeply; ¡°I only get a few days a month to see them, and even that feels like too much. Leila offered to take on more work so I could go, but she¡¯s already struggling with what she currently has. I can¡¯t just dump everything on her.¡±

    Ice King regarded him for a long moment before speaking; ¡°A burden shared is a burden halved, or so they say.¡± He leaned back, his voice quieter, almost understanding; ¡°But I understand. Duty often chains us tighter than we¡¯d like.¡±

    Bruno glanced at him, his brow furrowing; ¡°Yeah, well, duty sucks. I just¡­ hope they¡¯re okay for a bit longer. They always act like they don¡¯t mind, but I know they miss me.¡±

    Ice King raised his glass, his crimson eyes meeting Bruno¡¯s. ¡°For their safety, and your strength to carry on.¡±

    Bruno hesitated, then lifted his own glass, clinking it against Ice King¡¯s; ¡°Cheers to that¡­I guess.¡±

    The two men continued drinking, relaxing their bodies a bit more before Bruno discovered something rather¡­odd; ¡°You know, I kinda half expected to get drunk after like 3 sips of this¡­Why are you looking at me like that?¡±

    Ice King was looking at Bruno with an unimpressed expression, lips forming a frown; ¡°First of all, you are taking sips of Vodka slowly. Second, you are a blood magic user. You lot are notoriously hard to poison due to your body purifying your blood every few minutes.¡±

    Bruno blinked his eyes in surprise before shrugging and chugging his entire glass of Vodka; ¡°Eh, whatever.¡±

    Ice King continued drinking his glass of Vodka at a steady pace before his eyes widened slightly at a realization he had; ¡°Wait. Are you telling me that you, the Dunkeles Reich''s Royal Guard, never did research about your own sect of magic?¡±

    Hearing Ice King chuckling profusely, Bruno rolled his eyes from annoyance; ¡°Yeah yeah, I know. Not everyone''s a bookworm y¡¯know?¡±

    ¡°But you have to admit, going years without researching about your newfound abilities? The least you could have done is read the basics of Blood Magic.¡± Ice King said, wiping a tear before shaking his head

    ¡°Eh, I prefer practical stuff over getting bored in a library¡­At least I''m not a total wreck about my crush though.¡± As soon as these words left his mouth, Ice King froze out of nowhere, cheeks blushing; ¡°For the last time,I do not have a crush on Leila.¡±

    Bruno¡¯s face now has a grin so large it seemed like it was stretching from ear to ear; ¡°Ah, but I never even mentioned her now did I? Admit it Icy, you got a crush on her~¡±

    As the blush on Ice King''s face brightened ever so slightly, Bruno decided to tease him even further; ¡°Plus, you did invite her into your bed~¡±

    This seemed to be the last straw on the camel''s back as the blush on Ice King''s face brightened so much, his face now looked like a tomato; ¡°I forgot all about that¡­¡± he muttered before standing up and dusting himself off; ¡°Whatever.¡±

    Ice King then walked off behind the barrier he used to change clothes the day before, wearing his usual clothing. He then walked to a nearby wall before letting out a high pitched whistle, revealing a hidden set of stairs.

    Before descending the set of stairs, he looked back at the bewildered Bruno; ¡°Would you care to accompany me?¡±

    Bruno blinked, still processing the hidden staircase that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. He glanced at the vodka bottle, then back at Ice King; "You know, you could¡¯ve just said ¡®secret lair¡¯ and saved me a lot of questions."

    Ice King smirked, his earlier embarrassment swept under an icy exterior; "You think I¡¯d waste my time calling it something so mundane? This is no mere lair. Follow if you¡¯re brave enough."

    Bruno snorted, putting the vodka bottle down as he stood; "Oh, brave enough? Alright, Frosty, lead the wway. Just don¡¯t blame me if I find skeletons in the closet.¡±

    Ice King let out a huff of amusement, head held high; ¡°Oh please, I am much¡­classier than that. If there were corpses down there, I would have kept them fresh just for you.¡±

    ====

    The staircase led both of them into a sort of maintenance tunnel with the walls lined with wires and pipes while the metallic floor underneath them was both dusty and rusty. Bruno looked around, careful not to touch any of the pipes and avoiding any puddles; ¡°Okay, this gets more Ghetto the deeper we go. Are we even in the same airship?¡±

    Ice King just continued walking, humming a tune of himself and ignoring Bruno. This made Bruno catch up to him and tap him on his shoulders; ¡°Hello, Earth to Frosty¡­?¡±

    Ice King continued to ignore him, proceeding to walk even faster. Right before Bruno was going to grab him by the shoulders, Ice King suddenly halted, making Bruno collide with him; ¡°The hell did you stop for?! Did you finally find this mysterious thing you were looking for?¡±

    After looking back up, Bruno saw Ice King in some sort of gigantic round room stretching; ¡°Would you care to join me, Bruno?¡±

    ¡°Uhh¡­Okay?¡± Bruno said, wearily walking into the room. When he entered, the full scale of the room revealed itself. It looked like it could fit an entire neighborhood but oddly enough, he could see some sort of rune etched onto the walls multiple times.

    Taking a closer look at it, his eyebrow raised slightly in confusion; ¡°What type of room needs this many runes?...Wait a second.¡±

    His eyes widened as he heard a gunshot from behind him, causing him to jump to the side right as an ice bullet hit the wall and disintegrated; ¡°You brought me to an arena?!¡±

    Ice King spun the barrel of his revolver while whistling casually, wings spread out wide. He then suddenly dashed right in front of Bruno and launched a punch which Bruno parried hastily, causing Ice King to be launched backwards. He then looked at Bruno with a smirk; ¡°Show me your best, Estralez.¡±

 Chapter 5.

    ¡°Is this all you got, Estralez?!¡± Ice King bellowed, sending a storm of Ice Spikes streaking toward Bruno, each one glinting like a death sentence in the dim light. Bruno dove to the side, narrowly avoiding one of the spikes as it grazed the wall, its sharp edge skimming past his ribs.

    His heart pounded. He wasn¡¯t fast enough, not nearly fast enough. But he had to fight back. Focus.

    Bruno thrust out his hand, the pulse of his spirit magic wrapping around one of the ice spikes, yanking it toward him-only to be met with another dozen that sprouted from the ground like serpents. He swore under his breath as one nearly skewered him through the chest; ¡°Dude, you''re insane! How the hell am I supposed to attack? There''s no one nearby and my damn crossbow¡¯s in your office!¡±

    Ice King¡¯s laugh was a cold, jagged thing; ¡°Then find another way.¡±

    Before Bruno could react, Ice King shot forward, the base of a revolver gripped like a dagger, its barrel beginning to frost over. The ice crept down its length, forming a wicked Kris blade at the tip.

    ¡°Be creative, Estralez! What will you do without your fancy toys? Die like a common man? No. You are more than that!¡± The blade flashed, coming within inches of Bruno¡¯s gut.

    Bruno¡¯s breath caught, and with a reflexive movement, he sprang backward, but not before the edge of the Kris sliced through his shirt, drawing a thin line of blood; ¡°Then what am I supposed to do?! I''m good at blood magic and shooting stuff into other things! I can''t use blood magic if the only other person is a fucking Ice Hyferion who¡¯s stronger than me!¡±

    Ice King froze, his eyes narrowing. His gaze was sharp, dissecting every word; ¡°So? Is that really all it takes to break you? Where¡¯s that ¡®indomitable human spirit¡¯ I¡¯ve heard so much about?¡± He raised a brow, disappointment etched on his face; ¡°I guess I¡¯ll just have to force it out of you.¡±

    He traced a circle in the air, and a dozen clones sprang to life, their faces distorted by the cold mist swirling around them; ¡°I¡¯m no illusionist, Estralez, but I know enough to make you question everything. Not everything has to be outside the box. Sometimes, the answer is right in front of you. And no, I¡¯m not being metaphorical.¡±

    Bruno spun, eyes darting across the clones as they surged toward him, fists raised in unison. His mind raced-one of them had to be real. He couldn¡¯t afford to guess wrong.

    Then he saw it: a single footprint left behind by one of the clones, barely visible on the floor. With a roar, Bruno launched himself toward the figure, hands raised to intercept-

    And then he passed right through it. His instincts screamed, and he whirled just in time to catch a punch to the face, sending him stumbling backward; ¡°Dude! To the face?!¡±

    Ice King smirked as he helped Bruno to his feet; ¡°Yes. To the face. You¡¯re only going to get punched harder if you keep making mistakes like that. Remember, the people you¡¯re going to face aren¡¯t idiots. They are ruthless killers.¡±

    He raised his Kris, the gleam of the blade pointed at Bruno''s direction; ¡°Time to end this warm-up, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°Wait, warm-up -¡± Bruno began, but was cut off as Ice King¡¯s fist slammed into his stomach, sending him reeling.

    Ice King stood over him with a mocking grin; ¡°Did I mention I practice Close Quarters Combat as well? Forgive me if I neglected to mention it.¡±

    Before Bruno could recover, Ice King¡¯s knee collided with his ribs, sending him spiraling into the air. He followed up instantly, the air around them vibrating with a Resonance Impulse Bard spell that slammed Bruno into the wall with bone-crushing force.

    Bruno grunted as he slid to the ground, his hands shaking as he reached for his remaining vials of blood; ¡°Four left. Damn it, if I don¡¯t figure this out soon...¡± He glanced down at the dried blood near his nose. His eyes widened in realization; ¡°Wait... I can''t use blood to heal-but who said anything about magic?¡±

    He punched himself in the nose, the sharp crack of bone echoing in the chamber, blood immediately rushing from the break. This moment, while seemingly insignificant, was a major discovery for Bruno. A discovery that he had been limiting himself. He didn''t need outside help to ¡®improve¡¯ his skills. He just needed to look more towards himself.

    Bruno¡¯s vision blurred for a second as pain throbbed through his skull. The blood dripped warm against his lips, the iron tang sharp against his tongue. His fingers curled instinctively, pulling the liquid into shape.

    And something shifted.

    Not just the blood. Him.

    It wasn¡¯t the blood that made him powerful. It wasn¡¯t the weapon, or the technique, or even the enemy in front of him forcing his hand. It was him. His will. His existence.

    ¡°Alright, Your Highness,¡± he muttered, licking the blood from his lip. His voice was hoarse but steady; ¡°You want creativity? Let¡¯s get crazy.¡±

    As Ice King closed the distance, Kris raised high, Bruno quickly formed the blood into an arrow, fingers trembling as he aimed.

    Ice King grinned, his eyes glinting with cold satisfaction; ¡°Ah, now you understand, Estralez.¡±

    The blood arrow tore through the air, perfectly aligned. Ice King kept coming. No hesitation. Bruno¡¯s heart slammed against his ribs-this was it. Then, at the last second, Ice King tilted his head, the arrow flying past his cheek, close enough to slice a single strand of hair; ¡°Unfortunately for you, I am an experienced King.¡±

    Right after this, he turned his Kris back into a revolver and fired.

    The revolver cracked. The bullet zipped wide-too wide. Ice King never missed like that. But Bruno had no time to second-guess. His instincts screamed. Attack now, think layer. Blood gathered in his grip, solidifying into a blade as he lunged¡ªcrack.

    Pain exploded in his knee. His leg crumpled. The sword dissolved before it could reach its target.

    Bruno hit the ground hard, gasping. He turned, only to see the bullet lodged in the back of his knee.

    As he groaned in pain, Ice King smirked and offered a hand; ¡°Well, that''s enough training for you.¡± His voice was tainted with amusement as he continued; ¡°I had quite the enjoyable experience if I do say so myself.¡±

    After downing a vial of blood and letting the pain subside, Bruno let out a sharp exhale before grabbing Ice King''s talon, all while glaring at him. He yelped when the bastard pulled him up without even an ounce of gentleness; ¡°Yeah yeah<i>.</i> Great way to teach me magic, sensei.¡±

    After dusting himself off and drinking another vial of blood to regenerate, he rolled his eyes; ¡°So here''s what I learned. Try to hit my targets and dodge bullets and be creative. Did I get that right?¡±

    Ice King gave a shrug, leaning on the wall before lighting up a cigarette; ¡°Moreso the creative part. Fighting, in my opinion is not something linear. Its not something you plan out fully. It does not have a set pattern.¡±

    Following this, he took a quick puff before holstering his revolver. Then, he continued; ¡°Think of fighting as more of¡­a fighting game. Yes, you can predict what your enemy uses based on multiple factors but you do not know when they are going to use those moves and vice versa. You must adapt in these situations is what I would normally say but who says you have to change based on the person you''re fighting? No. If possible, keep using what you''re best at. Use those techniques in new and innovative ways.¡±

    ¡°All right, Alright, I got it. Actually, how the hell did that bullet even come back? Did you ricochet it or something?¡± Bruno asked, curiosity lining his wordsStolen story; please report.

    Ice King raised his brow slightly before opening the cylinder of his revolver and pulling out one of the bullets. He threw it to Bruno who clumsily caught it; ¡°Look at the tip.¡±

    As he was told, Ice King took a look at the tip of the bullet, noticing that it was¡­blue? Wait, no. That is-; ¡°-Ice? Wait, you put Ice on the tip of your bullet?¡± Ice King gave no response as he spun to face the exit.

    Ice King then threw his cigarette before heading for the exit. Bruno was going to follow him before noticing something¡­odd in Ice King''s hair; ¡°Hey Frosty? There''s uh¡­some white thingy in your hair?¡±

    This made Ice King immediately freeze before conjuring an ice mirror and checking his hair. His eyes then landed on a patch of white hair in his roots; ¡°Damn it. I thought this was supposed to last months.¡± Ice King spun to face Bruno before meeting eyes with him; ¡°Excuse me, I¡­will be in the bathroom.¡±

    Ice King spun back to the door before heading for the exit. Without another word, the arena was now empty. Save for the still lit cigarette on the floor and Bruno, standing there awkwardly; ¡°...Huh.¡±

    ====

    ¡°Damn it, Damn it, they better have a good reason as to why this hair dye lasted less than a week.¡± Ice King grumbled while walking, clenching his talons from frustration. After nearly reaching the entrance of his private office however, his sense of smell was assaulted with a sweet meaty smell; ¡°What the hell¡­?¡±

    Taking a look inside the office, he was surprised to see his miniature kitchen looking like it had just went through an episode of hell''s kitchen. Looking at the stove, he saw the culprit herself, Leila cooking¡­something.

    Before he could even say anything, Leila had noticed him waved at him with glee; ¡°Icy! Was Bruno with you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. He was with me in my training room. Now, I am curious as to what you are cooking.¡± Ice King said before trying to take a peek at what was making such a delicious smell.

    Sensing his ever growing curiosity, Leila stepped aside, revealing slices of Griffin meat served with some sort of sauce. Though, Ice King''s attention was also towards the absolute mess she made; ¡°I''m¡­really sorry for the mess. I can''t find the stuff I needed so I¡­kinda went through all your stuff?¡± Leila said sheepishly,fiddling with her fingers while taking glances at Ice King.

    Ice King bit his lip, leaving a taste of iron in his mouth before shrugging; ¡°I suppose I will clean it up later. What were you cooking, your Majesty?¡± At the mention of her cooking, Leila beamed with joy; ¡°I''m glad you asked, Icy! It''s an Arcana family special! The-¡±

    ¡°Is that Weingriff?!¡± Bruno exclaimed, saliva practically dripping from his mouth at the smell of the dish.

    Leila gave Bruno a smile while her eyes were closed; ¡°Yep! Decided to try cooking it for this occasion.¡± Leila picked the dishes up before putting them down on Ice King''s small coffee table, using a tendril to help her carry one of them.

    After putting them down, she immediately sat down and sliced a piece from the Weingriff; ¡°Dig in!¡±

    After sitting down on the nearby couch, Ice King took a curious glance at the Weingriff, its sweet meaty smell encapsulating him. Looking to his side, he saw that Bruno was already halfway through the Weingriff. Shrugging, he slowly cut off a small chunk of the meat and ate it. This caused his eyes to widen, as if he had just seen something incredible.

    The taste of it was impeccable. An almost perfect mix of meat and sweet. The meat itself was soft and tender, the unknown juice seeping through every bite; ¡°This¡­This is simply spectacular! Say, how did you make such an incredible meal, Your Majesty?¡±

    Leila rubbed the back of her head with one of her talons with a small blush, clearly enjoying the compliment; ¡°Ah, thanks, Icy! I did have to scavenge your kitchen to find some Griffin meat, Wine, Berries-¡±

    The fork that Ice King was holding suddenly clanged onto the floor as he looked towards Leila with even wider eyes; ¡°What was the second ingredient?¡±

    Leila blinked in confusion before answering Ice King''s odd question; ¡°Uhm, Wine-¡± Before Leila could even fully finish, Ice King immediately ran towards his kitchen, only to stare in abject horror at empty bottles of wine.

    Leila took a look from behind, rubbing the back of her head from confusion and shame; ¡°I mean¡­it can''t cost that much¡­can it?¡±

    Ice King gave Leila a glare that was somewhere between angry and disbelief; ¡°Did you seriously think the wine in the cabinet labeled as ¡°Personal Stash¡± would be cheap?! Those cost fifty five-¡±

    Leila cut him off, having a somewhat reassured smile on her face, glad that Ice King was probably overreacting; ¡°Well, that isn''t too expensive-¡±

    ¡°-thousand American Dollars.¡± Ice King finished, making Leila jerk her head forwards from shock; ¡°...Oh.¡±

    Ice King rubbed the bridge of his nose, clearly not having a good time while Leila? she was panicking; ¡°Oh Void, Icy I''m so so so sorry! I didn''t know it was that expensive! W-where¡¯s the nearest bank? I''ll go deposit a check-¡±

    ¡°No need. It was partly my fault for storing such expensive things in a normal cabinet. I should have stored them back home.¡± Ice King said with a forced smile.

    Leila was still stammering, visibly wracked with guilt, her wings twitching anxiously. Ice King sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before shaking his head.

    ¡°Enough, Leila. What¡¯s done is done.¡± His voice was calm, but there was an undeniable weight to it; ¡°Besides, it was partly my fault for leaving such expensive things in a normal cabinet. I should¡¯ve stored them back home.¡±

    Leila''s feathers puffed up slightly, her expression flickering between relief and lingering guilt. ¡°Still, I-¡±

    Ice King clapped his talons together with a sharp snap, effectively cutting her off; ¡°No time for this. You two have places to be.¡± He motioned toward the door; ¡°The meeting room is in an ornate building at the end of the main street. You shouldn¡¯t miss it.¡±

    Leila opened her mouth to protest again- only to find herself and Bruno abruptly shoved out the door before she could get another word in.

    The heavy door clicked shut behind them.

    Bruno blinked once, still processing what had just happened. Slowly, he turned to Leila; ¡°So, erm¡­¡± He glanced back at the door, then down at his half-finished plate; ¡°That was probably the most expensive meal I¡¯ve ever had.¡±

    Leila groaned, burying her face in her hands; ¡°Oh Void, I ruined everything.¡±

    Bruno patted her on the back, grinning; ¡°Relax, at least it tasted amazing.¡±

    Leila let out a muffled whimper.

    =====

    Back in his office, Ice King leaned against the counter, exhaling sharply. His talons tapped rhythmically against the hard surface as he surveyed the battlefield that had once been his kitchen.

    He sighed, shaking his head while his eyes lingered on the empty bottles; ¡° fifty fivethousand¡­¡±

    His gaze drifted toward the single remaining slice of Weingriff on his plate. He picked up his fork, hesitated for a moment, then took a bite.

    The flavor still lingered, rich in flavor. He chewed slowly, consideration plastered onto his face ; ¡°¡­Okay. Maybe it''s worth it.¡±

    After finishing his meal, Ice King was about to wash his plate ¡­until he remembered the state his kitchen was in; ¡°...Problems for future R-Me. Future me.¡±

    He tossed the plate into the sink before moving on to an even bigger issue, his hair. He walked into his bathroom before his eyes narrowed on the patch of white hair.

    Sighing to himself, he tilted his head upwards and slowly moved his talong from the top of his face to the bottom; ¡°Why''d I have to dye my hair dig myself into this hole?¡­Whatever. I guess I''ll just have to fix this. Hopefully no one complains about me being late.¡±

    He then opened his cabinet mirror and casted a spell, revealing a hidden bottle of hair dye in it; ¡°Unnecessary but at this point, why not?¡± Right as he was about to open the bottle of hair dye, he paused; ¡°I do wonder what those are up to. I mean, my instructions are clear. Ornate building at the end of the street.¡±

    ====

    Bruno let out a whistle, shaking his head from disbelief and amusement; ¡°I''ve seen so many things for the first time when you appeared Leila but this? I''d never thought that even for a moment of be eating a Steak as expensive as that! I mean, fifty five thousand is a lot!¡±

    While Bruno continued chuckling from the incident, Leila was busy looking around for¡­something which caused Bruno to abruptly halt his chuckles; ¡°Okay, I''ve cracked like ten jokes already. What the hell are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°A bank.¡± She answered dismissively, making Bruno roll his eyes; ¡°Seriously? You''re still feeling guilty about that? Leila, both of you are rich people. He probably has more back in his home.¡±

    Leila stopped before turning to face him, wings twitching nervously; ¡°They''re still expensive, Bruno! A-and did you see he look at his face?! He''s angry!¡± Leila buried her face in her talons, posture radiating guilt; ¡°Icy¡¯s gonna hate me forever¡­¡±

    Bruno gave Leila little more than a smirk while shaking his head from amusement; ¡°Leila, he''s not mad at you. That face isn''t the face of an angry guy. It looked more in line with ¡®Ah fuck, there goes eight hundred thousand dollars¡¯ or also known as disbelief. Chill, he''s not mad at you¡­Probably.¡±

    Leila gave a glare to Bruno before the glare softened and she shrugged; ¡°Well, hopefully you''re right,¡±

    The two continued walking the stone brick lines asphalt road, looking at the various modern looking buildings mixed in with some fantasy aspects. A house had a wizard''s tower jutting out of it.

    The library Ice King was previously studying in was the exact opposite however. Looking like a fantasy building infused with modern day architecture. The library was primarily made out of wood and stone bricks but the banister on the second floor was made of aluminum and glass. Speaking of the second floor, it was made almost entirely of concrete and glass, looking modern yet fits with the asthetics.

    Bruno let out a whistle as the two gawked around the streets, eyes darting around to capture as many details as possible; ¡°You know, we never stopped to actually appreciate how cool this place looks. This entire street looks like a damned movie!¡±

    Similarly to Bruno, Leila was also admiring the buildings, comparing all the differences in architecture in her head; ¡°Yeah, yeah¡­Hey Bruno, remind me to start investing in architecture if we get back home.¡±

    Bruno gave Leila a heartfelt smirk before rolling his eyes; ¡°You mean <i>when</i> we get back home and yeah, I''ll make sure to remind you¡­Actually, where are we supposed to go again?¡±

    Leila''s right hand scratched her chin as her face scrunched up; ¡°I¡­can''t remember if I''m being honest. I think it was something about¡­an ornate building?¡±

    Bruno gave Leila a flat look that could be best described as ¡®Are you serious?¡¯ before pinching the bridge of his nose; ¡°Leila. All of these buildings are fancy as hell. Are you sure he didn''t say anything else?¡±

    Leila bit the bottom of her lips before shrugging and giving Bruno a wide smile; ¡°Nope!¡± She then proceeded to walk down the road, heading for the North Section of the town which made Bruno confused; ¡°Then where the hell are you heading to?!¡±

    ¡°Don''t worry, you can trust my intuition!¡±