"It's time to wake up, losers!" a roughly annoying voice rudely awakens Azreal and I. "We have a meeting to attend, remember?"
I got up from my bed, "Yeah, yeah. I hear ya, Yumiko."
"Empress Yumiko!" she corrected me as she continues to smirk.
"No." deadpan response from me.
She crosses her arms and told us, "Just go get ready, already. Here I thought the ladies are the one who is slow in preparing themselves..."
Cheap, coming from you who haven't even done your hair yet. But...whatever. I don't care anymore. In the end, we got ourselves ready and waited for Yumiko to finish preparing herself. Talk about putting your action to your own mouth...Once the waiting was over, the three of us made our way to The Queen's castle.
In just a few moments later, we found ourselves inside a large hall filled with all of The Administrative Magic students as well as the other appointed Pantheon. I could see Danielle, Blanc and Shiro over there. Another glance and I saw Izzy happily waved at me. Yumiko noticed it.
She went and teased me, "I'm gonna tell Zen."
"What? No! There's no funny business between Izzy and I." I retaliated.
She got curious, "Then why are you flustered by what I said?"
"Can we move on from this. I never had any feelings for Izzy."
"You what?" oh yes, Izzy heard that because she was on her way to us...great.
The two of us looked at Izzy who looked like she was about to cry but then she clears her throat and returned to her serious self.
"Having fun, teasing are you, Empress?" she sounded strict.
Yumiko gave a laid back respond, "Why hello there, Supreme Leader."
I was able to feel something very strong. It felt like there was a strange strong atmosphere surrounding between these two. It's as if these two are having a war of their own in the background. I took a hike and left them as I made myself go toward the three Pantheon.
"Hey what's up, White." Blanc greeted me.
"I've been great. Being chased around by ghost of the past as well as the ghost of present. Fun stuff." I sighed.
Danielle laughed, "Scandalous are ya? At the very least, you've honored yourself and already decided on one person. But still...We're gonna have tell her about this."
"Hold on. How many people already know about my current status?" I asked them all.
Shiro then answered, "I think everyone already knows it, White. Isn't she always been following you since the 1st semester?"
I got flustered and replied, "Those were under different circumstances...she was...different back then."
Blanc noticed it as well, "Yeah, you're right. She was different back then. She was...colder? I think?"
"Why are we talking about this...?" I got annoyed by this topic.
But before we were even able to continue discussing, the sounds of trumpets have began to blare to all of our eardrums. We looked at the stairs above and were presented by the arrival of The Glorious Queen herself, Sam Maximus. She smiles like a queen alright. I took a quick glance at Azreal and notice that he was hanging out with Jarde Asmodius. Jarde is probably one of the Goblin Gang along with his men. They aren't lying when they say they hate The Queen. Their expressions tells it all. Except for Azreal of course. He's as gullible as he is. Kallen Lohn is also coming together with those groups from the looks of it. Looks like this isn't just going to be an interesting meeting.
Looking back at The Queen, I noticed that she still has loyal followers besides her. That's actually a lot of loyal followers, Emilia, Mimi, Lucky, Shez Hall, Luft Squall and Rune Fiore. Interesting bunch.
Luft Squall begins her statement, "Thank you for coming loyal subjects of the land of Virtue. This is a momentous occasion as the competition that pits against all Administrative Magic students will finally reach its conclusion."
Shez Hall continues, "The numbers of followers and lands will be counted accordingly by the system. The Pantheons then will have to unanimously decide if there would be any bonus points that the participants can get according to what The Pantheons prefer. Totaling all of that, the winner of this Virtue competition will be decided."
The other loyal followers cheerfully clapped while everyone else clapped normally with judgemental eyes. It's falling apart alright. After that opening segment, Sam gestured to Rune Fiore.
Rune Fiore nods and proclaimed, "Alright everyone! The Queen has an announcement to make."
Sam proudly presents herself and out of the blue, shouted, "ABSOLUTE ORDER!"
Immediately, the entire room has been trapped and encased under Sam's ability Absolute Order, where all orders must precede the Queen herself. While most of the Administrative Students were under the mind controlling spell, I realized that I wasn't affected at all. In fact, I look around me and saw Yumiko and surprisingly even Azreal were not affected.
"What's going on here?" I whispered to myself. Still waiting for the next movement.
Luft Squall then proclaimed, "Yes everyone! This is a setup! A blitzkrieg! We will make sure all of you bend your knees to the absolute queen!"
"This...this is cheating, Sam." One of the students mention.
"What the fuck...fuck you, queen." Another one express their feelings.
Absolute Order doesn't completely mind control those affected. But their actions are the ones being controlled. So while they can still think and talk, their actions will depend on Sam's order. While some were in panic and felt betrayed. Some were also calm about it, probably expecting it already. Izzy seems to remain calm in this situation.
The next thing that transpired however, "Hahaha..." Yumiko laughs.
"Is something funny, Yumiko?" Sam asked.
"Yes...there is something funny. For one, this is not Blitzkrieg you idiots. That word originates from Old Germania and it's not what you guys think it is. You guys are doing the wrong tactics here...This is just foolish."
"Can you please shut up, Yumiko?" Sam fought back.
To which then I finally had it and asked, "Can I ask something out of topic for everyone?"
"What is it, Cyclone White?" asked The Queen.
I began, "Well, I can't help but notice that there has been a number of reports from all over Virtue stating that some AIs have decided to fight back against their leaders. I thought these AIs will absolutely follow their human commanders just like how you do this ability of yours. Are you hiding something, Sam? What is this Virtue Project supposed to be?"
Sam scowled, "Should I even answer it to the likes of you. You are an outsider in all of this. You are not classmates and you do not belong here at all."
I replied back, "But you voluntarily invited us Pantheons to observe this sketchy competition. What gives?"
"I'm not entertaining you, White." She ignores me and looked back at Yumiko, "As for you, how dare you say something like that to me. Can you then tell me what is this Blitzkrieg thing mean then?"
Yumiko smirks and answered, "I can show you...right now."
Yumiko brought out a piece of medallion. For context, that medallion was what Yumiko scavenged right after the end of the siege of Infinity Academy during the first semester. So she has it now...that's a unique artifact.
The medallion then shines the entire room. Once the blinding light fades, everyone was able to move normally, they were no longer under Sam's spell.
Yumiko then shouted, "Now!"
Immediately, those in the Goblin Gang sprung into action as they jumped and captured the loyal followers as well as the other leaders. Some have begun fighting against the other city commanders. It was chaotic. The leader of the bunch, Jarde Asmodius quickly got his blade on Sam's throat.
"The throne...is no longer yours, my queen." claimed Jarde.
Sam was furious, "You traitors..."
During the midst of chaos, Yumiko walk pass me and whispered, "Have fun with what happens next. I got an empire to defend."
"Wha? What are you talking about?" I questioned her.
She smiles as she brought out her flintlock and shoots out a portal. She then got into the portal and she may as well probably have already returned to Violet Empire just like that. While this was happening, almost all of the other classmates of Administrative Magic were at their throats. It felt like a battle royal except that the Goblin Gang are the only one ganging up against other individuals.
"You've finally done it, alright." Sam raised her voice. She then looked to the sky and yelled, "INITIATE EXTERMINATION SEQUENCE!"
A loud gear sound can be heard spinning from god knows where. Everyone stopped fighting for a moment until suddenly all of the AI that was acting as guard started to glow red in their eyes. They all started to attack the students. Some were left injured and they were forced to eliminate the AI at once.
With the chaos that was happening, someone dragged me, "Let's get out here, White." It was Azreal.
He kicked the window nearby open. I looked outside and saw the Kingdom have started to look a bit different. All the AI citizens are burning the entire kingdom...What the hell is going on.
"Come on, White. It's safe to jump down. There's water down there." Azreal dives down.
I glanced at both of the hall and the outside, then I noticed Izzy was looking very confused with the situation. She dropped her serious demeanor and became scared all of a sudden. Through my own instinct, I returned and immediately grabbed her arm and brought her to the opened window.
"Come on, jump!" I told her.
The two of us jump out of the window. Not knowing if Azreal was saying is true, I put my believe in him to the test as the three of us drop down from hundreds of metre above.
TO BE CONTINUED