Khan was standing on the deck of the Swan. The gateway of the academy is off in the distance but rapidly approaching. Wahanly and her gear for her workshop are being offloaded as well as the ancient Mechalord. Aura was standing next to Khan, telling him about the Holy Land. He was only feigning interest. The truth was that his attention was on how to proceed.
It wouldn't be that hard to aquire that weapon and take out Babalun, but what then. Lashara made note that her mother was in a form of exile but really didn't go into the details of why. Khan suspected it was the work of Babalun or one of his lackies. It made sense considering Lashara's mother was known to be a miser when it came to money. If Babalun wanted to divert funds for his war schemes, he had to deal with Gold Gwindel. 'I bet if even a single coin was misused, then Gold would have been all over it.' Was what Khan had thought about when pondering the reason.
Khan had used the Eyes of Hermaeus Mora to get a quick peek at Gold earlier. Gold looked similar to her twin sister Flora. Khan figured that Gold's skills would be useful for conquering this world and those beyond. Khan Back at the present, the thin white veil that represented the roof of the Ena Ocean began forming as The Swan started the docking procedure.
After a short while, they were at Lashara's private dorm. Khan had been given free time as Chiaia and Wahanly were getting one last fitting in before they were officially knighted. As amusing as Khan would find the ceremony, he had a little test to run first. He was going to try out the skills he acquired when he consumed Kenshi's soul, and the neighboring forest would prove perfect for such things.
Khan was impressed. The acrobatics and foraging skills were as easy as breathing, like he had been doing it his entire life. He had acquired an impressive haul, especially when he found a certain mushroom. Then, the two he was expecting showed up. Aura's attendees, the two were sometimes comic relief, and other times, they were used to move the plot along, like now.
The scene played out like it was supposed to, with Khan toying with them and Aura coming in to intervene. Khan even decided to give the mushroom that seemed to be so valuable to them. The conversation Khan had with Aura afterward was more flirtatious than it would've been if Kenshi was still alive.
Khan stood next to empress Lashara as the knighting ceremony began. It was as amusing as Khan had expected, with the girls wearing the skin-tight leotards and the cat accessories. At the end of the ceremony, night fell, and Khan was left to his own devices. Lashara was on the Swan because of an incredibly tacky bathtub that her aunt had installed. Khan decided to use the opportunity to sneak into the Sacred Barrier Workshop, which was run by Chiaia's father. With Shadow Nexus, it was easy to find and sneak in the workshop. It was not so easy to find the weapon. After some careful and thorough searching, Khan found what he was looking for. However, the moment he lifted the case, a voice shouted behind him, saying, "Who are you! What are you doing here!".
Khan turned around and saw Naua Furan or more commonly known as Chiaia's father. Naua was alone, so Khan deduced that he hadn't triggered some silent alarm. Rather, it was pure coincidence that Naua was here, so with barely a thought Khan caused a sizeable hole to appear in Naua's chest. As the shock of what just happened sunk into Naua's brain, with his last breath, he tripped an alarm. Khan entered his Shadow Nexus, content in knowing that there was no one who could identify him and that he achieved his goal.
Locating Babalun proved to be a little more difficult, mostly because he seemed to be always on the move. After half an hour of searching, Khan found his target. Not wanting to waste his opportunity, Khan emerged from the shadows and struck.
...
Lashara was drinking tea when the news that Babalun was missing arrived. Lashara had to struggle not to spite it out from the shock. Evidently, there were signs of a struggle in his office and a mysterious black pool of sludge in the center of it all.
The news caused Lashara to re-evaluate the attack that happened while returning back to the Holy Land. The only comforting thing was that her mother was being brought back in order to help stabilize the situation. But still, Lashara knew this would change some things.
Before, Lashara's plan was to throw women at Khan so she could secure his loyalty, but now, with this unknown threat in the wind. Lashara would have to be more mindful, but she would also have to pick up the pace.
The old plan was still viable, but now she might have to include the staff at the academy. It shouldn't be that hard. She was already in negotiations with the school about employing Khan. Lashara paused for a moment, wondering when the idea to give women to Khan became so easy of an idea. That moment of doubt disappeared as quickly as it struck.
Lashara's eyes drifted towards her servants. Due to her limited budget, she only had three maids. Maya, oldest and loyal, always there to give advice in social situations. Then there is Angela and Vanessa they were both relatively newer, and both worked hard in doing the work required to keep up appearances.
Lashara then said, "Angela, Vanessa, would you both please go check on Khan and see how he is doing. It had occurred to us that we have yet to properly reward him for his assistance in fighting off the attackers, so if there is anything he needs, please don't hesitate to fulfill his request. Unless it is something that the two of you feel that you are unable to do."
They both bowed their heads and said, "As you wish your majesty." Then they both left. Lashara could feel Maya's eyes on her, so without looking, Lashara took a sip from her tea cup. Then she asked, "Do you disagree with my decision, Maya?"
Maya answered, "It is not my place to pass judgment on your decisions, and you did give them an out if his request was to uncouth. So, no, I do not disagree with your action." Lashara took another sip of her tea and pondered about the meeting she had set up for tomorrow with the principal.
...
At the headquarters for the church, the council was discussing everything that had happened. They were arguing. One voice could be heard asking, "Has there been any news on Lord Babalun? Another responded, "No, while they are doing their due diligence in finding him, it is being presumed that he is dead." A third stated, "I honestly thought this would only be a civil war at most, but if some third party was responsible for both attacks, then this might be the beginnings of a much bigger threat."
The Pope spoke, saying, "Are agent in the field has confirmed that the pilot of the white sacred mechanoid is dead, and the pilots of the two black mechanoids are still unknown. She will resume her role as teachers as she investigates the potential leads. For now, we can only observe the situation and be vigilant against this mysterious force. Until we can ascertain their motivations, we must proceed with caution." The others, with no means to argue, simply nodded their head in agreement.
...
Khan was sitting on the edge of his bed, not really sure what to do. The system notified him that summoning his followers was the same as building an army. Since he wanted to see the nature of this no army reward/penalty, he had no choice. But it cause the chances of boredom in between tasks to skyrocket exponentially.
He decided to review what had already happened. After a rather tedious fight with Babalun, Khan had managed to erase him successfully. Now, with Gold running things, Khan merely has to wait before he swoops in and takes everything through a little corruption.
Suddenly, there was a knock at his door. Angela and Vanessa immediately walked in. Vanessa spoke, saying, "Her majesty, empress Lashara has decided to reward you for your services thus far and has sent us here to accommodate your requests." Khan looked at them both for a moment while also checking their corruption levels. They both were at 70% and growing. Khan was momentarily surprised. He knew Kenshi's pendant would speed things along, but not this much in such a short time and with so little interaction.
Khan smiled and asked, "And what request would you ladies like for me to make?" It was coy and ultimately meant to stall while the last bit of corruption sunk in. Angela and Vanessa looked at each other, then at Khan. Without saying a word, they began undressing themselves. Khan was amused by the show they were giving and thought, 'Well, looks like I'll have plenty of things to alleviate my boredom."
As they stood there naked, Khan smiled again and asked, "Whose first?"