Chapter 9: Imperial Order (1)

~9.1~

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With the very brief battle over, everyone returned to what they were doing before. Rift appearances had become somewhat common since the Arslade battle, but thanks to the wealth of knowledge given both by Daemonheim, who had been fighting demon beasts for millennia, and from the immortals, who had fought in countless battles and wars in their many lifetimes, casualties were non-existent. Atlantean government prided itself on protecting every one of its citizens.

After the initial battle over the four capital cities, the empress saw fit to prepare for more, and was right to do so. She modified the foundation on as many planets as possible since the battle, adding new runes. It had to be her or another imperial to apply the runic magic. With the remaining imperials unable to assist on most days, Atalante was hard-pressed and covered dozens of planets per day to maximize coverage. Astarte and Astraia were among the best after Atalante, but the difference was substantial. Each could manage only a few planets per day.

Kye and Alethea helped on the weekends. Kye was the only non-imperial capable of casting any runic magic, officially, but even she didn’t initially have the authority to do so. Without imperial authority, she could not access the foundations. With their engagement long since established, Atalante elevated Kye’s rank to just below her own, equal to Alethea, Astarte, and Astraia. Atalante was known as the Rune Queen, but Kye gave her a run for her money. Nobody was surprised, really, after having witnessed the monstrosity of a runic spell she had cast in battle known as Heavens’ Fall.

In combat, Kye typically favored different things for different aspects. As a magic caster, she preferred long-range implementation. In defense, she always erected a barrier at least a few feet out from the target she was protecting, so that she could react and raise a secondary barrier before any attacks that pierced the first could reach their target, not that any ever did. In martial combat, she preferred wielding a single sword and imbued it heavily with mana. Such a style was only suitable for a true veteran, as it left many openings that could be exploited for a novice. In the Battle over Northern Forest, she predominately launched mana waves from her blade, the Sword Wave Technique.

The one thing that every aspect of her combat skills had in common was that she used runes in all of them. She used runes in magical combat to much more quickly augment her spells than with standard manipulation alone. She riddled her barriers with runes and even drew runes on her sword. Alethea was comparatively skilled, but neither she nor Kye could channel sufficient mana to augment foundations. After bonding with Astarte and Astraia, they could. Together with their new weapon partners, they had what Atalante had: skill with runes and sufficient output.

Kye and Alethea each could handle a few planets per day solo, on par with Astarte and Astraia. Separately, Kye and Astraia or Alethea and Astarte combined could handle roughly a dozen per day. Together, each pair could handle several dozen per day.

Erdreich was one of the planets that had already received the upgrades, and the fact was made obvious to any experienced with foundation magic. Rosalie used spells that relied upon the foundation’s new runes. That allowed her to generate a powerful barrier from the foundation’s mana supply to protect the people from the beasts.

Rosalie was very thankful, both personally and as a representative of government, for the upgrades to the foundation. Once the battle was over, she decided to move forward with her plan to eliminate what she called ‘ridiculous opposition’ to the Heir of Drachenheim. While most of the students were enjoying their field trip to Northern Forest, the royals and even the archnobles from Kye’s class were meeting about the issue. The archnobles were sitting in to provide their own perspective. The royals, including Alaira, Rika, and Luka, were busy being outraged because the entire issue had been withheld from even the Royal Council for so long.

“This is completely unacceptable. Wolfgang and everyone else standing against Adele have some nerve,” Alaira boldly stated. She was already using Doran’s chosen name, which also was her true name. In truth, Doran simply did not want to come up with a new name. The fiery blonde was eyeing Doran. “And you, to put yourself through this is nothing short of torture. You have no obligation whatsoever to the archnobles with foolish mindsets. You are a Royal Heir! No archnoble has the authority to force you into anything, why let them?”

Doran, or rather Adele, averted her eyes. “Adele, if I may,” said Louise. “I am an heir as well, one step lower than a cardinal heir like yourself. I am heir to a vassal planet in Realm 1. When, or preferably if, I succeed my mother, I would be equal in rank to Wolfgang van Erdreich. I cannot fathom, as I am now, including gender identity in politics. The very top of our leadership has been held by both males and female, and even now,” she looked at Alethea, “our Imperial Crown Princess is transgender. None alive, save his daughters, personally knew the late Emperor Athanasios Atlantis, but we all know his name and that he was a great ruler that sacrificed his very life to ensure the main island of Atlantis survived. His mother, Empress Andromeda, was also a great ruler. And now his daughter, Empress Atalante, has ruled incumbent for over ten million years. That great ruler adopted a child born male gifted with white mana that just so happened to have a female mind. A ruler capable of keeping an empire together for so long cannot be taken lightly. That these archnobles have issues with a transgender royal where the empress does not could very well be taken as an insult to Her Imperial Majesty.”

She paused a moment to look around the room. She sighed and continued.

“I apologize for getting a bit heated there,” she zeroed in on Rosalie in particular. “You mentioned you have a plan to deal with Wolfgang?”

Rosalie smiled and nodded. “I sure do! I raised the boy myself, so I know him well enough to say he won’t stay obstinate if either he or Leonhardt were to duel one of the student royals and lose the fight.”

“That is your great plan?” Michelle sighed. She held out a hand and materialized a six-foot long staff made from an aethersteel bracelet. “Fine. I’ll fight them myself.” That she formed a weapon from an aethersteel bracelet told the room that she was at minimum capable of crafting aethersteel, a feat known to only be accomplished otherwise by Kye, Alethea, and Allison. Given the situation, nobody asked about it.

“You, Mimi?” Danielle asked. “Don’t you think an adult archnoble is a bit much? I know you and Adele are strong, but-”

“She’ll win,” Alethea said confidently. She, of course, knew something most of the present company did not.

Rosalie was still grinning. “Shall we get this duel underway, then?”

“How do you propose we do that? Wolfgang is the incumbent Grand Duke of Erdriech. Wouldn’t he be beyond busy?”

Kye, having heard enough, stood up and started casting a long range runic teleportation spell. “I’m done with this conversation. We’re going to the Erdreich palace. Now. If we have to resort to something as childish as a duel to convince a Grand Duke to stop thinking so foolishly, then I’ll depose him myself.”

Kye was annoyed enough that she used white mana in front of people that didn’t know she was capable of it to transport the entire entourage directly to the Erdriech Palace.

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Revision 12-18-2023