King Charles stood on a golden pedestal that occupied one meter of area. The pedestal was located in a terrace within the center of Acies, it oversaw the entirety of the city from its altitude.
The location had no formal name and was simply a part of the palace, but the royal army called it the “War Terrace”, since it was an advantageous position to fly out from in the event of a war. It was also a strategic military base where components for spells used in war are stored.
As of the moment, mages and soul weapon users scrambled to sortie, as staff ran around preparing the catalysts necessary for various key spells such as Flight and Elemental Warding.
Various offensive spells flew across the sky at an attempt to keep the young dragons at bay, the city was made to hold up in the event of a hurricane, but it would still be highly dangerous to keep them alive for an extended period of time.
As for Charles, his duty was a bit more complicated than a sortie against a couple young dragons, for he had to confront the most terrifying species on the planet, an elder dragon.
“Your majesty, are you confident that you do not need to bring a battalion of archmages with you? You should at least bring Principal Willow to aid you in battle.” The archmage who had just cast an Invulnerability spell on Charles lowered his head and pleaded.
“No need, the number of archmages in Acies are in the dozens, each one is integral to the defense of the city. With my soul weapon, I will not perish so easily.” Charles responded as he donned his enchanted golden helmet.
“If that is your wish, your majesty, then I will not question it.” The archmage knelt down and presented the king with a golden wand, at the tip was a deep blue crystal lodged in a half-crescent.
“This focus is good for one peak level spell, your armor is made of pure gold, so it could be used as material for such a spell.”
Charles nodded and accepted the golden wand, he was not confident enough in the various crystals that were inlaid on his chestplate and leggings. He hung it at his waste on a leather belt strapped on to his armor.
The figure of Principal Willow appeared in Charles’ vision, the old man’s footsteps made a loud thump with each step, he carried a backpack twice his size.
He made a beeline to Charles’ position, and no one dared to stop him.
“You shall not be going with me.” Charles ordered.
Principal Willow nodded.
“Yes, I am well aware. However, I should at least grant your soul protection, Invulnerability may protect you from all forms of physical damage, but an elder dragon’s attacks are not imbued with solely physical power.” He explained and materialized his soul weapon, a black glow circled around the branch of the willow tree.
“Do not try anything to harm me.” Charles warned Principal Willow and relaxed his body.
“That would be an extremely foolish maneuver, your majesty.” Principal Willow spoke in amused laughter, he waved the branch around and sent out multiple leaves that flew around Charles.
They fluttered through the air in a rhythmic pattern, almost similar to a dance. A faint golden glow appeared around Charles and made his position as a monarch even more believable.
The leaves stuck to the golden aura, suspended in place.
Principal Willow’s eyes widened, he stared at Charles in admiration.
“This golden color, as expected of a ruler.”
He became self-aware of his stupor and narrowed his eyes, he coughed loudly.
“This will last until the elder dragon dispels it, at that point it your soul weapon would be at the strength where it could overpower the attacks, if not soften the blow. I merely added this as insurance so you do not perish to a sudden mental attack.”
King Charles, looked at the golden glow that now surrounded every inch of his body, he felt empowered, yet he felt exposed.
“Are you sure this will protect me? I feel the opposite, to be honest.”
“That is natural; I did bring your soul out into the open after all.” Principal Willow explained.
Charles flinched and gave Principal Willow a sharp glare.
This provoked a shrill laugh from the man in question.
“Relax, the adjustment I did provides far more protection than if you just kept your soul in there.” Principal Willow pointed at Charles’ chest.
“Now, excuse me, your majesty. I have my own matters to attend to.”
Charles surrendered and helplessly watched as the old principal walked out of the venue, he did not request for any further elaboration, he at least trusted him enough to not pull a fast one on him.
He turned to the archmage who was still knelt beside him.
“You may stand. Did you catch any of that?”
The archmage stood up a dusted his clothes, before he gave Charles a look of confusion.
“Pardon me, your majesty, but did you not use a warding spell to obscure noise? I would not dare invade yours and Principal Willow’s privacy.”
Principal Willow opened his mouth to utter a word, but immediately closed it a second later.
“Nevermind my previous query. Order the mages to teleport me up there.”
The archmage immediately stood at attention.
“At once, your majesty.”
He cleared his throat and started to bark out orders.
“MAGES, GET INTO POSITION! WE WILL BE TELEPORTING THE KING TO THE VACUUM OF SPACE RIGHT ABOVE ACIES. GET THE METAL BOXES INTO POSITION.”
Everyone immediately complied, they scrambled into their positions, the workers pushed sizable metal crates into the hastily drawn teleportation circle.
The space above Acies was well-documented and observed daily by mind mages, hence it was entirely safe to attempt teleportation there, provided one had the copious amount of prerequisites required to survive in such a harsh environment.
King Charles’ soul weapon easily allowed him to, as the human ruler must be able to deliver justice wherever he may be, however, the mages cast all the required spells on him anyways, just in case.
A brilliant yellow hammer appeared on the hands of king Charles, an intense power emanated from it, a power that felt so overbearing that ordinary humans would think they were in the presence of a deity.
In a sense, they were.
King Charles raised his Warhammer to the sky.
“Justice for mankind! Semper Invicta!” He yelled.
“Semper Invicta!” The mages chanted in reply.
The teleportation circle was activated, it connected the space and teleported King Charles to his destination, along with his provisions.
He found himself in a black void, surrounded by countless stars and the false moon that seemed so close, yet so far away.
‘It seems that they have done their calculations, I am falling around the planet right now, and thankfully I am well in control.’ He glanced around him, he had done training in an antigravity field, but this was nothing like it. In a good way at that.
He felt as if his feet were placed firmly on the ground, if he did not see the blue planet below him, he would believe he was simply in a room under the earth.
A golden platform was materialized under him; it seemed to come from the handle of his hammer.
‘Is this the power of our lineage’s soul weapon? This defies common laws.’
He did a few practice swings, and stepped forward and backwards, even doing a few acrobatics. With each motion, his soul weapon kept up with him and made it seem that he had not even left his home.
Speaking of home..
He glanced down at the blue planet, clouds covered the atmosphere, the side he was staring at was unlit, but his vision saw it clearly enough to make an obvious observation.
‘Our continent is surrounded by water, and only water.’
The dwarves, the orcs, the elves, the humans, they were the only ones there.
“Beautiful… and terrifying, is it not?” A voice rang out in his head, it was powerful yet gentle, distant yet familiar, frightening yet calming.
“May I ask your name, esteemed elder dragon?” Charles thought with the intent to reply.
“Very well, but first, you should face the one speaking to you, no? Turn around.”
Nervously, Charles turned around to face the one behind him.
What he saw was a big eye, if he could even call it that, it was an eye that gleamed like a pearl in the orient seas.
He was supposed to fight this thing? Its iris alone covered his entire vision!
‘Remain strong, Charles, your father taught you not to falter in the face of even the mightiest adversaries.” He convinced himself.
“I am Worcestershire, elder dragon of the Core Abyss, as mortals call it. I am afraid I am unable to tell you my reason to be here, but I will assert that I have no intention to leave.” The dragon introduced himself to the king.
“Do you intend to bring further harm to my kingdom?” King Charles curled his forehead.
“Just enough.” The dragon responded, its eyes narrowed.
“I am afraid I cannot allow that, according to the kingdom’s laws, I must slay you right here.” Charles held his hammer above him and winded up for a blow, a golden shine was seen from the smashing end.
“I do not intend to quarrel with you, but since I am as magnanimous as the sun, you may try.” The dragon snorted, the action held no actual force outside of atmosphere, but it was still terrifying.
Charles swung down his hammer at the dragon’s eye, thinking that it would be a weakpoint. A bright flash was made during impact.
Followed by Charles being knocked back a few dozen kilometers.
“My body might do so involuntarily, though.” A mocking laughter found its way into Charles’ head.
This further enraged him, causing him to attempt a few more swings at the dragon, each swing sent him flying back.
He finally decided that rage was not enough to overcome an elder dragon, so he started to crack open the metal boxes that was floating around and sift through his available resources.
He settled on a high-level eldritch bolt, which would cost him a mana crystal the size of a human head, due to him not having access to the Great Leyline.
The bolt crackled through space, emanating a terrifying power that would rip a sizable hole into a mountain.
It harmlessly bounced off the dragon’s earthly exterior; in fact it was as if the eldritch bolt fled for its life.
“Grr.” Charles groaned as he continued to look for solutions, if control spells, a well-known weakness of dragons, was wholly ineffective, he would have to get more creative.
“Go on, we have plenty of time” Worcestershire spoke as if he was in a tea party, there were even noises of him munching on a crumpet.
This “fight”, if it could even be called that, would take a while.
How would you arrange a tea party with a dragon, in space?
Uh... magic!