At dawn, from the high garden of the royal palace, a figure dressed in plain black robes gazed at the rising sun. He had a deep red blade lying on his side, something out of place from his simple attire.
"The battle's soon. Are you prepared?"
From a distance, a voice called out to Xavier, and he replied without turning around.
"Of course, and I suppose, they must be prepared too?"
*sigh*
The figure who called out approached Xavier and sat down beside him, gazing at the sunrise along with him. It was a beautiful romantic moment worthy enough to be painted, but of course, it was as far from reality as it could be.
"Having infiltrated the court so deep, they must've been preparing for weeks. It's been 3 days since you regained your power, I suppose the heavenly demon must've heard about you by now."
"It matters not, Seraphina. I'll win, no matter what. I have no excuse to lose after gaining this strength. Besides, it is one of the few battles I've been looking forward to, even more than when I fought the hero."
Seraphina looked over at Xavier with a raised eye, but since he did not elaborate, she did not press him.
"I hope you don't get careless and somehow lose. It'll spell doom for the both of us."
"I know, don't worry. As I said, I can't lose."
"Well, that's reassuring to hear. You remember the plan, right?"
"Of course, take care of the three Sages and engage with the heavenly demon, and leave the Grandmasters and other rabble to you guys, right?"
"Yes, the empire possesses the materials to create a treasure that can allow me to harness a humongous amount of mana, and given my background as an Archon mage, I can take care of the Grandmasters pretty easily. The rest of the masters can be left to the 3 grandmasters of this country and their immediate command, and the leftovers would be taken care of by the regular troops with their massive difference in numbers."
"Still, it's a battle where only the high rankers matter the most. If by chance, the high-rankers get into a lose-lose situation, it'll be our loss since their low ranks are definitely more skilled than the pathetic soldiers I've seen here."
Seraphina could not say anything about that. Even from her perspective, the ranks of the soldiers did not match their skill level. The people here fought completely depending on their rank, and someone like that could only be called mediocre in their era.
"Well, I'll be off. The battle plan is for me to strike first and eliminate the Sages, and then bring the heavenly demon off to a barren area to prevent people from dying in our crossfire, is that correct?"
"Yes, I hope you do your part well."
Saying that, Seraphina left Xavier to his own devices, going to prepare the trump card of their battle, one which she could use to kill the Sages.
'I'm glad that this isn't my own body, wasting lifespan for a trial isn't worth it.'
*********
"7 peak quality mana gems, 5 handfuls of redstone stone, a bucket of magic slime extract, the wooden shards of the Erdtree… This was quite a long list, Your Highness. It took us a long time to prepare this." The resource minister of the empire said to the youngest princess, who looked at him impassively.
"Though it is quite long, the items listed here were rare, but not impossible to find, were they?"
"Of course not. They were rare, but eccentric and useless to the alchemists except the magic gems. Though even that is not too rare, so everything was within budget." The minister replied, and for a second, he was sure that he saw the princess having a nasty smile. It was gone the next moment, so he doubted whether he started hallucinating from the overwork.
The minister bowed and left, and as soon as the door closed, Seraphina could not control her expression.
'Hehehe, it's soo cheap! All these treasures would've cost me my fortune and more, but they're sold like cabbages during these times!
Now, time to create the artificial mana heart…'
For the next few days, Seraphina delved into creating an object that might very well shock the whole world. It was too bad that the object she was creating was something only usable by her due to her Innate Gift, but it was still a wonderful item that could be researched and passed down for centuries.
She was the best in the world at magic, but magic wasn't the thing she was best at.
Both the former Archons prepared for the fight against the heavenly demon. While one got used to the power he regained, the other created means to harness such power.
All of that for a single Savant.
*********
"How are the preparations?"
In a dark chamber lit with candlelight, a figure sitting behind a veil asked a man who was kneeling on the floor. The features of the veiled person were hidden, but his terrifying presence could be felt easily throughout the whole sect.
"We are ready to intercept the soldiers of the empire at any time, my lord. All the disciples and elders are training in group combat for the battle, and the morale is extremely high."
"Hmm. Good."
There was a moment of awkward silence before the man spoke up with slight hesitation.
"My lord, I mean this with no disrespect or doubt, but why are we training so hard to fight against that weak empire? They only have three grandmasters at most, and a random person artificially inflated to the Savant level. Surely he must be no match for you, right?"
The heavenly demon went silent for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.
"Hahaha. Little one, we are not preparing to face the empire, we are preparing for that calamity who is out for our blood."
The man was confused for a second before the heavenly demon spoke up again.
"Did you know about the light incident that took place in their castle?"
"Yes, there was a small commotion regarding that. It was apparently the awakening of that Savant."
"Yeah, that exact moment. While you guys reported every detail to me, the most important thing was conveyed the moment I felt that light from here. We absolutely need to prepare our best, do not be trapped in the illusion of arrogance."
While the man did not fully understand what his master meant, he still bowed his head and took his leave. There was no way he could even think about questioning his master.
After the person left, the heavenly demon muttered to himself,
"Oh, walker of the demonic path. I can't wait to face you."