"You may be an edict, but clearly, you don't know your place young lady! You're reaching beyond your rank," Grand council Falas said.
"Beyond my rank? You misunderstand. There's no edict stationed in Rebble, therefor, there's no established ranks amongst the edicts there, if there's no edicts," Erika said.
"IMPUDENTS!"
Erika sighed. "From where I'm standing, it seems you fear the White Dragons,"
Sazo Barnes slammed the armrest on his chair. "We do not fear the White Dragons girl. The reality is… even edicts can't control everything,"
"The edicts can't, but I can. I am the Dark Queen. There is not a man in this world I cannot control," Erika said.
{Except Toga maybe.} Her face soured at the thought.
"The time is unripe. They may be brought to heel, but deep down they all have a rebellious heart. You go out there, and they will eat you alive," Falas said.
"Oh really. And when will the time be right? After you've bred them out and have completely replaced them with the Red Dogs?" Erika said smirking. By the way one of them was clutching the armrest, she knew she got it on the mark.
"It would seem, you're more resourceful than I gave you credit for. To find out our plan, you indeed have astute ears my girl,"
"Ears? I have nothing of the sort. The sense humans rely upon most is the eyes. I can take one look and figure out that you didn't send the Red Dogs to Rebble over some altruistic need to help them maintain their territory from the demons. You did it to slowly weed them out generation after generation,"
"You're seeming less a queen and more a witch," Falas said
"Hmm… Dark Witch Erika. I think I kind of like that title better than the last. Perhaps I should ask my bond guard to start the rumor of me being a witch," She put a finger on her mouth and looked away from the council members.
"Be that as it may child. I cannot see any reason to send you over as a liaison. The risk would outweigh the rewards,"
"Really now. The way I see it, I could quell all your fears in one fell swoop," Erika said.
The council narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean,"
"You see… I wondered why it was that you would pull a generational replacement move. Even if you would have left them alone, at the rate they were going, they could have lost a lot of manpower… too much manpower to run their territories," Erika started walking up even closer. She wanted to see the subtle tells. The swallowing of their throats, the sweat running down their faces, the shifting of their eyes. All letting her know that she was getting to the truth.
She saw all of that and was correct.
"It wasn't until I saw the rankings of all four territories did, I see a connection. You guys fear the White Dragons," Erika said.
"What nonsense! We out man them, out power them, and control them. For what reason do we have to fear them?" Another council member said.
"It's not them you fear. It's their circumstances, versus their potential," She touched a ring on her finger and pulled out a book. She flipped the pages until she reached the desired page. It stated the current year.
"Red Dogs, one Saint, zero Saint candidates," She flipped it to the yellow monkey section. "Yellow monkeys, one Saint, zero Saint candidates.
Erika shifted one of her eyes upward to see that all of them had their eyes narrowed at her. They were starting to catch on what she was getting at. "Blue Pheasants, one Saint, one Saint candidate. She finally flipped to the last section. "White Dragons… one Saint… three Saint candidates,"
"An unlucky period. Sometimes a territory can go fifty years without producing a Saint. That isn't surprising in the least. We just need to figure out why the White Dragons are getting so lucky. What is it they're doing to produce Saints?" Barnes of the Grand Council said.
She got it right on the nose. Espionage… they wanted their guys in there to see what was up. It was never about helping the White Dragons. They feared their rise and from the looks of their frustration, all these years, nothing has come up.
She smirked even more knowing that there was something she knew that they didn't.
One of the councils had a lightbulb moment after thinking over everything. "I get it. You think if we send you over there, you can solve the mystery as to why the White Dragons are having a rise in power,"
"Again you misread my intentions. I do not wish to solve something I've already solved," Erika said.
All the council members had gotten wide eyes. "If you know then tell us. It would be a great help in consolidating our power from the White Dragons and you would have contributed to three entire factions,"
"Unfortunately, that won't be the case. If you look at the report, it isn't just the number of Saint candidates that the White Dragons have. Even their Tithe collectors have awakened their blades to an extent. It's just the matter of the law of evolution. Sure the quantity of the White Dragons has dropped significantly, but that's because they're territory has the most amount of demons that are of higher levels. It has resulted in the highest casualties of the four factions but has also risen the quality of the survivors. If this continues, all four Cardinals will become Saints, at least eight of the twenty-four Bishops will become Cardinals, and we don't know how many priests will become Bishops," Erika said.
The head council leaned her head on her hand in frustration. This was a sign that the edicts weren't even trying to hide the façade in front of her anymore. There was no point. She got everything right.
"If what you say comes to fruition, then the other territories would not be a match in that time. Bishops are a problem in itself, but they could be dealt with numbers. It's the Cardinals and above that's the problem. With that many, we can forget about it. The White Dragons are the weakest in numbers and reputation alone. If it came to army vs army, no doubt, we would not be their match," One council member said.
"If a Cardinal equals a thousand priest, a saint equals ten thousand," Another said.
They all began discussing amongst themselves over it. "Ok Dark Queen. You've convinced us that you're far more knowledgeable than we gave you credit for. I assume you have a plan for everything you've laid out if you're going to go to the White Dragons territory,"
"I do, but I first want to know about all the caution. Surely there were warning signs before it got to this point. Why wasn't there anything done before hand?" Erika said.
The head council sighed. "It's because of one man. That man as you know, is the Saint for the White Dragons, Yami Bahndai,"
Erika knew who that name was. Between him and Gen, she couldn't tell which was the most troublesome men to the edict's existence. At least they have been until Ryuma showed up.
"This man, without being a shining spirit, is able to resist the Dominance of Will. Because of him, we've been gridlocked from the Rebble area. I suspect, he may know our secret. If so, this could spell our doom,"
"Which is why we don't want you going over there. This, coupled with the timing of Aeragis's awakening. I fear we may be in the worse period of our lives. I don't want us antagonizing the White Dragons, especially with the awakening of their shining spirit,"
"Even so… no… especially so. I must be stationed in the Rebble area. Although the White Dragons are strong, they're the least cohesive faction with nary the same goals. They won't launch an offensive against us," Erika said.
At that moment, the door to the council hall opened. In walked a man with thick, long, and spiky black hair, tanned skin, and a rough look on his face. His presence alone stimulated the hair on her skin and raised her heart rate. She could feel the danger radiating off him.
{Please don't tell me… this is.}
"YAMI BAHNDAI! HOW DARE YOU ENTER OUR HALL UNANNOUNCED!?" Falas screamed as she stood up.
Yami smirked with arrogance. "Oh you got some nerves to say that. I come back home to see Red Dogs living in my Skyland, my territory smashed, and now our shining spirit being hunted like an animal after finally awakening," A vein popped on his head.
"Your deity is a menace to our very way of life, and you know it," The council member said.
"If so, I decide what we do with him, not you," Yami threatened.
Erika looked back and forth between the two. She didn't know if she should say anything in the presence of this man. As he walked closer to her, her bond guard got in a defensive stance.
"Enough with your prattle. What is it you want Yami?" The council asked.
Yami just sneered at him in response. "Young lady. I hear you wish to be the Edict overseeing Rebble,"
He addressed her. As he closed the gap, her bond guard froze, unable to move, unable to strike. Her eyes were stuck wide open.
{What did he do?}
His presence was threatening, like that of a high-level demon. "If that is true…" He knelt and offered his hand to her. "Then you have my protection… Edict Erika," He smirked that ever so devious smile.