there is nothing more terrifying than imagination. that I am very sure of.
if I were to suddenly make my very limited troop enter into a fight just now, they would perform better than later on.
once you begin to imagine your enemy to be mightier than you, they end up becoming mightier than you.
the nature alliances representative should be coming any minute, they usually tend to be on time. I wonder what did they want to talk about. let's hope that they do not cause any trouble because these guys can cause a lot of trouble.
there he is, he seems to be carrying something on his back. it must be their surprise.
( after a while, in my conference room. )
me - alliance representative, I did not expect you here. I hope you understand that I can't pay up right now.
alliance representative - there is no need for that, we just came to inform, that somebody created a hole in your seal.it is not large enough for anything to escape, but it leaves us worried.
me - I thank you for informing me, but if the damage is really as small as you say, then the seal will repair itself. so you don't need to worry.
alliance representative - we know, but we wanted to inform you that we found a human inside the seal with an otherworldly beings corpse next to it .we are handing over the human to you.
me - thank you, but that won't be the only reason you have come here. a single human won't be enough for you to come personally.
that is the good thing about wolves, they tend to be very direct. they don't beat around the bush like nobles do.
alliance representative - you will be very interested in this human. he has something you have been looking for for a very long time.
me - the book of the bloody mage.
alliance representative - yes, his magic is very destructive to the forest. the next time we see him we will kill him. even our patience has it's limits.
me - I will take care of him, so you don't need to worry. you know that with the proper training I can make sure he won't damage the forest.
alliance representative - that is why I have brought him here.
me - thank you, I will try to get what I promised you as quickly as possible.
alliance representative - I will be taking my leave then. I don't want to be caught in your war.
me - it's best if you leave now. what you want will take some time but you will surely get it. it is my promise.
the wolf disappeared, not saying anything. well, I think that should be considered rude, but who cares.
the wolf has managed to give me something, that I have been looking for for a very long time.
me - summon rock, tower.
tower - yes master.
( after a few minutes on my balcony )
rock - so what do you plan to do with the kid.no normal person can break your seals easily.
me - nothing, for now, I just want successfully tide over this war first, then I can worry about other things. I have to request a couple of things from the elders. if they give me what I want. we can survive this attack, but be ready to retreat.
rock - when are you going to talk to them.
me - in a few minutes. I wanted to see the nature alliances demand before talking to them. thankfully they are not demanding anything extra, that I would need to ask them.
rock - well best of luck, you will need it with the emperors.
( after a few hours. )
it took longer than I expected, the third emperor can see everything that is going on in the empire. whenever we want to contact them, all we need to do is draw a rune where it is easily viewable by the third emperor. it is not magical, just a plain drawing.
once he sees the rune, he will establish some kind of mental magic thing. to be honest it could not be magic also, just a part of his abilities. the emperors do not like people go know the details of their ability.
anyway, I can finally feel myself feeling sleepy, a sign of his magic.
I finally fell asleep as a very familiar scene appeared in front of me. it is the round table, the nightmare of every soldier of the black wind empire.
there were five seats placed around the table. it looks like all of the emperors came today.
they have no reason to be paying any attention to me. at least not all of them need to come.
finally, blurry figures appeared on the chairs, they were finally materialising.
me - greeting emperors
the figures solidified into each of the respective emperor. they would be the third, fifth, sixth, eighth, and the ninth emperor.
the third emperor was the first to speak.
the third emperor- immortal, do you care to explain. what the hell is happening in the city of madness?
after that I spent quite a while explaining what exactly is going in the city of madness. I did not add any lies, because the fifth emperor would discover it anyways. I removed it because it is long and boring.
the sixth emperor - so you are saying that the gate has collapsed. will it be a threat in the future?
me - as for as I can tell not anytime soon, the portal is very small, not anywhere large enough for transportation of people.
but there have been holes in the seals I have placed over there, which is making me worried about it. something or someone powerful has entered or left the seal. so I think it will be a potential worry, milord.
the sixth emperor - well, keeps a close eye on the portal. there are many beings capable of changing their shape and fitting into the portal. my brothers, we will have to discuss his fate. he has broken quite a few laws, don't you think.
right now, I was sure there were beads of sweat flowing down my real body. every person here could kill me, the third emperor could directly make me brain dead. the thing is that if I make my master move without their permission, they will kill me regardless of how good my intention was. with their permission they won't kill me, at most they will send me to the phantom zone. If they did that, I will join the honour guard, that should be enough for them to forget my crimes.
no matter what, I am not returning to that place. too many bad memories if you will.
I cannot hear what they are speaking. if I try to lip-read what they are saying, all I see is a blur. so all I do is stand and hope they don't send me to the Phantom Zone, I like my freedom a lot. I don't want to join the honour guard yet.
their Emperor - immortal, you are accused of the following crimes. first, the illegal procurement of a forbidden magic artifact.
second, the destruction of another magic artifact which led to the release of Hundreds of gods on The empire.
third, the usage of a God, a very dangerous one at that, and lastly the destruction of property of the throne, the book of thousand armies.
me - I agree to them all, I guess.
the third emperor - well the combined punishment of the four is usually a death sentence or being sent to the phantom zone, we have decided to make an exception due to the exceptional military service that you have provided us, we have decided your punishment to be a promotion. from now on you shall be the general commander of the southern district. you do not have any say, so don't bother to speak.
me - but I am unsuitable to be a general commander, I won't be able to inspire the same fear than some other more deserving candidate.
third Emperor - little kid, you have managed to scheme your way into the phantom zone, do you really expect us to believe that you cant do it. well it does not matter, we have decided. you will get the official position after you deal with this enemy, the fact that you have have not abandoned the field means that you have some scheme against them.
me - no I don't, milord. I do plan on escaping in a few days, I just have a couple of things to deal with before leaving.
the third emperor was giving me his do not share anything look. trust me when I say that man loves his secrets. I am his greatest secret, after all.
I also know that if I share anything, this man will make my life hell.
third Emperor - so since we have given our verdict on the kid, so it is time for us to leave. let's not keep the kid waiting here.
the world around me became dark, this time it seems like I am in my own mind. I knew it, things are not as they seem.
me - third emperor, what do you want me to do now.
third emperor- what do you plan to do with the God core you acquired. you know I can't allow you to keep that God core. you had to pick the most dangerous god core in the entire council of kings and then you dare to use it. you know the throne of thousand lives is the name that we gave the God core. the original tower itself is called devourer.
me - it's fine, the tower is in my complete control. even if it went out of control, I have a way to destroy the God core.
third emperor - I am sure you have some genius scheme to destroy it aren't you. tell it to me.
me - right now I have almost a thousand units of God mana present in the book of thousand armies. I am planning on giving it to a being who I have a contract with. she is capable of taking pure mana, leaving concentrated God mana behind. that should destroy it. not even my immortal body could handle that mana, let alone another god, who depend on their mana to live and absolutely can't have it corrupted.
third emperor - the devourer's ability allows it to absorb almost any kind of magical energy. its history is more complicated than any of my brethren care to admit. there is a reason that we don't touch the council of kings. there was another among your predecessor book holder who attempted it. the tower devoured him and returned to the council. your arrogance is gonna cost you some day, to think you dare to mess with a god at this time. we had warned him against destroying the tower.
me - I can deal with the tower, emperor. I did not plan to keep it with me longer than necessary anyway. if push comes to shove, I will chuck its god core right into the portal we found. if a god core can't destabilise the portal than I will change my name.
third emperor - kid, I am warning, get rid of that tower. in the present climate, I don't want a danger such as that tower so close to me. whatever is your plan to destroy that tower, enact it.
me - but my plan will make the madness pass, nearly unpassable. we will lose an important supply line to the dragon outpost.
third emperor - do whatever you want, if you can make that place unpassable, I will personally thank you. that place is a powder keg, what with the Totems, the tigers and serpents now, that's a headache that I don't want to deal with.
me - are we being besieged by our enemies?
the third emperor - you could say that. I will be leaving now, the situation in the empire is very chaotic. the god cores you have released are not helping.
me - sorry, I was expecting things to be better. I just wanted to study the tower, figure out how it is made. use its power as much as possible. I didn't expect such a large army to come here, I expected to have a couple of months before all of this mess broke out. every decision I have made seems to have backfired on me.
third emperor - focus on the mission kid. right now, I can't have my most brilliant soldier under me to have an inferiority complex. I will be leaving now, I have an entire empire to watch.