Kapitel 46: 45th Move | Eye of a Storm
After lunch with King Gazel, I decided to spend the rest of my afternoon with Rubedo and Ririna, planning out how to deal with Falmuth. Interestingly enough, during this planning, I got a message from Arcueid which I promptly ignored until after everything was done.
This new plan was to field test a new doctrine I'm spearheading, a never-seen-before doctrine that emphasizes hyper-aggressiveness and decapitation strikes against enemy leadership primarily utilizing Doormaker as the means of propulsion.
This doctrine should result in the war ending in a single hour if everything goes accordingly.
Once the plan was finalized, Operation New Republic was born, with the goal to neutralize Falmuth as a threat with as few civilian casualties as possible.
Afterward, Ririna proposed we should play a war game, where it was me going up against all the officers present within the War Room. The Field Marshal thought she was being cheeky, and totally didn't expect to me actually say yes, and even less expecting me to use the tactics I did.
Napoleon Bonapart was considered the greatest general in my old World, after all.
One of the features of the main holographic table within the War Room of the Hexagon was its ability to simulate hyper-realistic battles. It takes in thousands of different variables from factors as tangible as the wind and nutrition to as abstract as a troop's morale. Everything relevant to a battlefield, the computer takes those into account and simulates to near-absolute precision thanks to the mainframe supercomputer held underground.
This scenario was a what-if concerning the West, where everyone turned against Ruberios. Here, in this simulation, it's assumed that people like Granbell Rosso and Hinata are seen as commanders of an army that gives buffs, as otherwise, people like Granbell can solo a whole army all by their lonesome.
In the first week of the simulated war, I chose an extremely aggressive opening move by blitzing into Ingrassia with Hinata as the leader of a strike group. They moved extremely quickly since they didn't carry many supplies and instead forcefully acquired supplies from the local population.
Such speed surprised Rubedo and knocked him out of the game by overthrowing the government and installing a puppet ruler faster than any nation could respond. I also used most of the captured higher nobilities as leverage to force the surrounding countryside into compliance.
Then, I let loose my influence as the home of the Western Holy Church and swayed a few of the nearby smaller states to my side.
With one of the two Superpowers knocked out, most of the other nations were left stunned.
Siltrosso cooperated with some rebellious nobles and attempted to rescue the imprisoned King Aegil by using a cavalry army to mimic what I did and quickly reach the capital.
They would have much success if I didn't already anticipate that. Clairvoyance mages allow me to remove the fog of war and granted me the foresight to have several more units of long-range mages to harass the marching army before escaping just as they tried to enact retribution.
Siltrosso soon retreated, since the constant harassment is causing serious desertions.
Over the next two months of in-game time, Falmuth and Sarion teamed up with Blumund to rally their forces in the latter's territory. They formed a grand army of 500,000 human soldiers, 200,000 homunculus soldiers, and 10,000 homunculus and human knights and mages as the vanguard led by General Elerenia of Sarion, creating a 'magisteel fist'.
This fist was meant to drive me out of Ingrassia in one mighty push, and as the path to Ruberios is wide open, to lay siege against the empire itself.
Needless to say, I couldn't possibly allow that. No amount of tactics or strategy is enough to prevent an eventual but long-fought Sarion victory. Thus, instead, I needed to slow them down so my slower, but primary army can reach there.
I couldn't use the same tactic I did with Siltrosso since Sarion possess what many consider to be the best mages in the entire world, so they can scout out all potential traps and ambushes.
This led me to use a tactic only used in desperate circumstances: Scorch Earth.
Over half a million people require a lot of supplies. This grand advancing army must continue to move lest they eat the land and the surroundings bare. So I took a page out of the Russian Empire's playbook and had rapid movement units made up of a team of cavalrymen set fire to as many farmlands as possible in the path between Lura and Blumund.
This made launching a direct attack on Ingrassia through the valley between the Falmian and Kirin Mountain Ranges most commonly used by merchants.
On a side note, because of my order of Scorched Earth, I was met with the unpleasant surprise of the eastern provinces of Ingrassia rising up in arms as the corrosive claws of famine began to take hold.
Many villages had to be preemptively put to the sword to put down those budding rebellions.
Such an atrocious act strained the relationship I had with my in-game allies.
With such a lack of raidable supplies, the grand army had to wait an extra in-game few months inside Blumund to gather more and more supplies to march on Ingrassia's capital of Lura.
During the wait, I was really tempted to use Ruberios' navy and launch a few raids against Sarion's capital. If I was El Dorado, I could've used their supreme navy to launch an invasion by sea through their huge troop carriers. Alas, Ruberios, like so many other Western nations, are a predominately land power first before naval.
It makes sense really. Ruberios and the others had no need to control their sea lanes given they're connected to the whole continent by land, so trade is, again, mostly done over land. El Dorado is an island continent like Australia, so control over the sea is pretty much El Dorado's lifeline since they mostly trade minerals and metals for food from Eurazania.
That reminds me, the attack by Milim definitely will cause at the very least a minor famine in El Dorado along with much of the South.
While I was pondering the further geopolitical ramifications of Milim's attack on the breadbasket of the continent, my mages have begun a ritual that'll settle a cloak of anti-clairvoyance magic on the most elite members of my army.
What I'm planning is essential to force the enemy to choose between either the more treacherous valley (or would it be more accurate to call it a mountain pass?) between the Kirin and Falmian Mountain Ranges that cradles Ingrassia and historically protected it from the old Thelium Kingdom or the safer one that goes around the Kirin Mountain Range but adds at least an extra month of travel time.
I relieved Hinata of her duty by placing the local Archbishop of Lura in charge of Ingrassia. Then, I had Hinata advance to set up decoys along the mountain pass to make it appear as if she had more people than she really does.
Truthfully, I want the grand army to move around the Kirin Mountain Range, but at the same time, I'm fully prepared to make them seriously regret choosing the shorter path.
In the end, the grand army chose to walk through the mountain pass. Sarion's mages managed to foil most of Hinata's ambushes and so they were able to go through the passage mostly unmolested. Though, their speed left much to be desired since the supply line situation became even worse.
At one point, the grand army was losing over five hundred personnel a day by either death or desertion due to the encountered attrition.
By the time the last soldier crossed the mountain pass, close to 30,000 people were either dead from attrition or had deserted.
Troublesome, that's still a lot. I had Hinata retreat back to Lura and mount a defense of the city while my main force is still moving from Ruberios.
It took another three months and even more desertions before the grand army finally reached Lura. Having such a long time to prepare, Hinata already took all the food from the countryside around Lura and razed them to the ground afterward.
It was a slogfest. The capital Lura was one of the most ancient cities in the West, it was said that there are more forgotten tunnels underneath Lura than there are rivers in Falmuth. An over-exaggeration no doubt, but it speaks volumes to how old the city is.
When Hinata learned of these tunnels, she had any that are found flooded with water from the central lake.
Eventually, the siege came to an end when my main army met them at Lura's walls.
It was like taking a hammer to an anvil, or ramming a car against a wall, for the exhausted attackers were smashed against Lura's walls, and with no place to run, it was a bloodbath on two sides as my Master Rooks, Paladins, Crusaders, and Cavalrymen cut through them like a knife through jelly.
The homunculus knights and mages were an issue, but they weren't strong enough to stop the Ten Great Saints and Master Rooks.
It was one of the rare decisive victories, and the game master AI declared Ruberios' victory since none of the Great Powers on the board could oppose me anymore.
In total, the war game lasted two and a half hours. [Tactics] and [Strategy] had a blast in that game.
Personally, I think Ririna didn't realize how difficult laying siege against a city as ancient as Lura was. Though, at the same time, she could've realized it but also know how Lura could bear a blockade of all shipments longer than the grand army can.
After it was done, I teleported back to the Citadel's kitchen.
An odd sight greeted me upon my arrival, there was a thing placed on a chopping board.
Arcueid had messaged me about trying something new for dinner. Apparently, she heard of a method of preparing dishes from Rimuru, a 'Yakiniku', or grilled meat. Effectively, it's a style of barbecue where bite-sized meat and vegetables are grilled on metal mesh above an open flame.
I've eaten Yakiniku before, usually when I was encountering a Japanese client. Never really knew what it was called though other than naming them 'grilled meat' in my head. I recall that the cooked meat was also typically dipped in soy sauce.
I had no problem with Arcueid branching out her interest, and her trying new stuff of her own volition instead of me prompting her is excellent to say the very least. However, the problem came when she wanted the squid meat to be as fresh as possible.
Thus, instead of going to the food market as any rational person would, the True Ancestor decided it would be best if it was caught alive.
I stared blankly at the freshly killed octopus in front of me, its black ink overflowing from the table with a bit of blue mixed in with that blackness. A single steak knife driven into its brain impaled it onto the chopping board, nailing it down and thankfully placing it out of its misery.
The kill was fresh enough that the octopus' eight limbs are still moving, grasping at air as the final evidence this animal was alive slipped from the world. The knife ensured the octopus would remain on the board.
"Arcueid, are you sure this is a squid?" I called out to her from the kitchen.
At the very least, the chopping board was placed over the sink, so the ink and blue blood were spilling down the drain.
Arcueid halted mid-step just as she was about to place a metal mesh the size of her chest over a gas stove. Bringing the mesh closer to her chest, Arcueid adopted a look of deep thought, her clothes still a bit damp from her impromptu dip into the Bay of Ashdapor.
"Of course, that's a squid. I even went to the library and looked for images of 'squids' before diving into the ocean."
Placing the metal mesh onto the top of the gas stove around five centimeters above where the actual flames would exist, Arcueid then yanked the steak knife out of the octopus and grabbed it.
Holding the octopus closer to my face, I exerted visible effort to ensure I didn't cringe at the smell.
"See, two large eyes, a black beak for breaking up food, orange skin, many tentacles, and the thing squirted ink at me the moment I grabbed it! All traits of a squid."
My mouth was slightly agape at her logic. Head tilting slightly to the side, I have to concede that on a basic level, it made sense.
But that level is so 'basic' it's like a toddler's.
"How many tentacles does a squid have?"
"Hmm? Didn't you hear what I said? A lot."
"How many specifically?" I insisted.
That was when Arcueid's confidence started to deflate. Quietly counting the number of tentacles belonging to the invertebrate inside her mind, "Eight! A squid has eight tentacles.
I gave her a deadpan look. At this point, the vampire was just trying to salvage any pride she has left.
So I sighed and let her take the win. Seizing the octopus, I placed it under the faucet and turned it on, washing the invertebrate.
With a single swipe of my hand, I caused all single-cellular organisms, parasites, viruses— anything that might cause food poisoning— to simply stop functioning.
In a single moment, the octopus in my hand was as sterile as Venus.
Taking one of the knives that hung from the walls, I started separating the octopus' head from its tentacles.
"Oh, by the way, Arcueid you wanna try sashimi instead?"
Normally, one shouldn't eat anything that came right out of the ocean raw since more likely than not it's full of parasites, but with [Mekhane], I've made that a non-issue.
Arcueid looked disappointed, "Oh come on, Scientia let me cook for you this time!"
My face returned to that deadpanned expression, "Yeah, maybe next time when you find the real squid then I'll let you. So I guess Yakiniku it is."
Once the head is fully detached from the tentacles, I opened a small Doorway next to me and dropped it into an incinerator.
An octopus' muscles are filled with collagens, tough connective tissues that make the flesh itself have a rubbery texture. Usually, most people prepare octopus by cooking it to break down that collagen into gelatin, making the flesh tender instead of rubbery just like bear meats.
I skipped that long process and instead used [Mekhane] to artificially induce a breakdown of that collagen protein into gelatin without cooking it.
Then, I took what appeared to be a large fruit peeler without the knife and slowly brushed it as if it was a hairbrush down the length of a tentacle. After passing every centimeter, the Auto-Knife made a cut by forcing a length of carbon nanotube down through the meat.
The Auto-Knife is what I'd like to call a 'smart knife' in that it'll make rapid cuts as if you're one of those master chefs you see on TV. This is a tinkertech I haven't released to the rest of the world since I never saw a point.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Arcueid fuming this entire time and crossing her arms.
An idea popped into my mind just as I reached for a bottle of seasoning.
"Hey, Arcueid, you wanna have a competition to see who can cut the thinnest?"
Instantly, she smirked, bringing her hands to her chin, Arcueid raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Are you sure you're willing to challenge a Princess?"
In lieu of a response, I threw her a single severed tentacle.
Faster than my eye can register, the moment the tentacle reached the peak of its arc, it was diced into hundreds of thin, almost translucent, finely cut slices.
They were light enough that they all drifted into Arcueid's waiting hand as if they were falling leaves from a tree in autumn. Very quickly, they formed a perfectly neat stack on her hand.
Because of the relaxed situation I'm in, the Mathematics didn't have any recording device active, so I wasn't able to see a slowed-down replay of what exactly happened.
My eyebrows furrowed in a bit of confusion.
"How did you do that?"
Arcueid had a smug look on her face, surprising me must've made her day.
Cheekily, she said, "That's a secret," with a mysterious smile.
My left eye twitched. Oh, now you don't.
I'll use a bribe to get you to talk. Books, theater plays, musicals, and movies— these are the things that Arcueid enjoys the most. So then, I'll offer to stay by her side at a long theater play then.
As Arcueid hummed to herself, pleased at the outcome, I pulled up a holographic display showing the schedule for the Metropolitan Theater.
Ah, perfect. There's a black comedy at eight tonight lasting for four hours of how a merchant accidentally wandered into the Eastern Empire and because of how fine the clothing he wore was, the merchant was mistaken for a noble. There, the merchant was forced to continue being a noble because otherwise, the local Imperial Commissar would have him killed as an outsider.
Ah, the Eastern Empire... probably the only real totalitarian state in this World. Their information security is probably the best among all the nations except for maybe my own.
Transferring the appropriate funds, I bought two first-class tickets for the two of us before having a molecular assembler print them.
Opening a small Doorway beside me, I reached in and pulled out two bright yellow tickets with the theater's symbol on them, instantly catching the vampire's attention. Waving them, I continued, "Arcueid, if you tell me how you did that I'll give you a ticket to see tonight's play at the Metropolitan Theater."
Her eyes lit up like a toddler seeing candy after a month of abstinence.
"Oh of course! It's my Unique Skill that I got when transporting here, [Marble Phantasm]!"
Arcueid has a Unique Skill?
It never really occurred to me that Arcueid has Skills of her own. Now that I think about it, that was a stupid assumption based on the fact that she never really broadcasted that she has Skills like other people.
"How does it work? Your [Marble Phantasm]?"
"Well, there's two versions of it, the one in my old World and the one in this one. In my old World, a Marble Phantasm is a vision materialized. It is our conceptual power that's connected to nature itself, the planet's own sense of touch."
My look of bafflement must've hinted that I have no idea what Arcueid's talking about, I mean, a planet's sense of touch? What?! And concepts? What? Just what?
"Hmm... think of Marble Phantasm as imagination realization. By connecting my own will to the World, I can transfigure the local environment into whatever I can imagine through control over probability."
I still have some difficulty wrapping my head around that superpower. Fucking magic.
"So it's reality-warping then? Through probability?"
"I guess you can call it that. Reality-warping of anything that's not man-made or multicellular life. Though Unique Skill [Marble Phantasm] seemed to have gotten rid of that limit."
"How the hell does controlling probability allow you to cut something?"
"I just turned layers of the atmosphere into a vacuum that cuts the tentacle into hundreds of thin pieces."
Arcueid spoke with a mixture of frankness and casualness.
A vacuum, huh? So she can use [Marble Phantasm] to create regions of space forcefully devoid of any particles because of probability?
I gave her a look that screamed are you serious— wait a minute—
Man-made? Limit removed?
"Arcueid, did you or did you not use your [Marble Phantasm] to disable the electronics inside my locks, thus allowing you to go wherever you want?"
There was a strained smile on my face. It is not impossible for my tinkertech to fail in the same sense it is not impossible for a Boltzmann Brain to form in the next moment, so using probability manipulation, Arcueid could have expanded the probability micro fissure for failure into a canyon of certainty.
"Yep!" She cheerfully said.
Does that mean Arcueid could control the very quantum fluctuations that make up the Uncertainty Principle? How does one even defend against something as intangible, as abstract as probability?
As if to display her control over probability, Arcueid threw the thin slices of octopus meat into the air. Each of those thin cuts then drifted onto the cutting board next to me, forming a single neat stack that remade the original tentacle.
From a basic glance, I couldn't even tell the tentacle had been cut. They were arranged that neatly.
Moreover, so that's how she got through those locked doors!
Carefully, I took a piece of that sliced tentacle and with the gentlest amount of force, spread it out across my hand like a dealer would with a deck of cards. The cut was miraculous. It was fine enough to be comparable to cuts made by a monomolecular knife.
Fascinating.
Deciding that was enough for one day, I decided to cut the rest of the tentacles into bite-sized chunks, ready to be grilled
For those tentacles that have been cut into thin pieces, I stacked them on top of each other before spreading them all out sideways across near the rim of the plate before drizzling a dark condiment that has the consistency of vinegar.
The seasoning was actually based on this one I found in a bronze-age society in a galaxy situated around five billion lightyears away, around the edge of a supercluster of galaxies. The seasoning had to be modified because the real one demands a high concentration of mercury and arsenic.
The flavor may be a bit different, but it's close enough to be near-indistinguishable.
With the preparation done, I and Arcueid cooked the chopped-up tentacles on the metal mesh placed over a gas stove. After their skin became crispy, I suggested to Arcueid to dip them inside soy sauce but she refused, saying that this tasted better since it was 'pure'.
Looking unimpressed, I tricked the True Ancestor into chewing a piece of the octopus that had been dipped in soy sauce. She was obsessed with the taste, saying how its saltiness and texture made the piece even more delicious.
After the quick dinner, I had the Mathematics alter itself to appear that I'm wearing some heavy clothing fit for the cold weather outside. At the same time, Arcueid told me to turn around and she— presumably using [Marble Phantasm]— changed her own clothes into a stylish heavy winter jacket.
I wonder what's her limit now with [Marble Phantasm]? If that's what allowed her to remake herself after being unmade with the Disintegrator, then... crikey that's scary to think about, Arcueid being able to simultaneously control octillions of atoms. She really isn't human at all.
Using Doormaker, both I and Arcueid teleported to an alley next to the Metropolitan Theater.
A black door framed by purple is already synonymous with me, what with it being an unofficial symbol for Research and Development. I don't need nor want to broadcast my presence.
Flakes of whiteness came into view as I noticed how the streets underneath my feet have a thin layer of snow. Beyond this alleyway and into the main sidewalk were footprints so numerous snow had no time to accumulate before they were stepped on. Occasionally, there were bikes and cars coming down and through the main road sandwiched between two sidewalks. Up in the air were Security Drones hovering with only a slight, almost inaudible hum, monitoring people from all races walking around freely and preventing crime.
The only that's missing from turning this from looking like the downtown in Toronto is the lack of spruce trees and Christmas decorations.
I halted at the mouth of the alleyway, and Arcueid, who walking closely behind me stopped as well though I can almost feel the bewilderment practically radiate from her.
A sense of extreme nostalgia washed over me as I realized it should be almost Christmas by now...
Assuming that time is isotropic for all Worlds, this would be the first of many they would spend knowing that I'll be dead, isn't it?
The first of many...
A quiet urge appeared in the forefront of my mind, sudden tiredness as if I had just run a marathon.
Despite the Christmas songs not being present, I can almost hear them. Christmas...
"...Jingle-bell~ jingle-bell~ jingle bell rock~..." Unknowingly I started to sing quietly, my uncanny voice makes what I'm singing not corny or cringy instead, it sounded like something synthesized, something you know is false, "jingle bells swinging~ and jingle ring..."
I swear I can almost hear it. Those Christmas songs you hear playing on the radio after Halloween.
How long has it been since I've last celebrated with them? With my family? With Kathy? I searched my memories for an answer, mentally sifting through the years after my graduation. Every year I've always been so busy, so I ignored my parents' invitation to come home and celebrate Christmas.
Instead of being rare, working 70 hours a week is the norm for me. Me taking my vacation time are rare— more often than not, I've only taken a vacation when I'm sick.
Every day's the same, the same work, occasional promotion, go home, sleep, then wake up, work.
"What are you singing?" Arcueid asked me inquisitively to my right, which snapped me out of my stupor.
"N— nothing," I discreetly wipe my eyes as if I'm removing dirt particles, "just... wasn't expecting it to snow."
There is no way I'm saying that the snowfall at night reminded me of how almost every Christmas movie started, especially with me singing Jingle Bell Rock.
"Are you sure? You seemed quite out of it there."
Arcueid strolled over to me, inspecting my body carefully, causing me back away into the other side of the alleyway and away from her.
"No, no, no. I'm quite fine thank you, it's just— doesn't matter, let's go to the theater, we're going to be late!" I hurriedly said before grabbing Arcueid's hands and jogging over toward the theater.
If she were a human, I think she probably would've fallen to the ground with how I'm dragging her.
I'll apologize to Arcueid later.
The jog slowed down to a slow saunter as I neared the entrance.
Just as I was about to open the door, a familiar squeaky voice suddenly spoke up.
"There you are!"
Stopping in my steps, I took a deep calming breath as I'm reminded of the fact that she exists, and is the same as me, a Demon Lord.
Ramiris, the supposed Queen of Spirits. Fallen Queen of Spirits.
Facing the child-like voice, I saw Ramiris floating about three feet away from me, wearing the same clothing as that time I saw her in the Dwelling of Spirits.
"Ramiris. How can I help you? If this is about the Demon Lord thing can this wait?"
"What? No! This can't wait! I've been looking everywhere for you, don't you know that your nation is in danger?"
That caught my attention. With but a thought, I took out a censoring device and created a field where no sound nor light could get out encompassing me, Arcueid, and Ramiris.
"Please explain." I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. I don't think she's the type to cry wolf.
Looking around me, I saw that I'd caught a large amount of unwanted attention. Yeah, best discuss details about national security in a more private setting.
"Diablo."
The air snapped as the Black Primordial appeared next to me, his posture in a kneeling position as if I were a king and he a subject.
"What is it that you have called for me, my Lady?"
His tone was smooth.
"Accompany Arcueid for me, there—"
"Hey!" Arcueid interjected, exclaiming, "You promised me that we'll see the play together, Scientia!"
My lips thinned in indecision. A part of me wanted to delay listening to whatever Ramiris was going to say and just watch the play with Arcueid, as I promised. But at the same time, threats to national security demand my absolute attention.
I lectured Veldora on his responsibility as one of the True Dragons and how to properly use his power, and so too must I. I should practice what I teach, shouldn't I?
So I turned to Arcueid. She must've realized what was happening as there was a look of betrayal on her face.
"Apologies, something came up..." I glared at Ramiris, "I swear, this better be important."
Feeling offended, Ramiris stomped the air and spoke in a tone of indignation as if I was in the wrong "Hey! I wouldn't go out of the Labyrinth if it wasn't life or death you know!"
Sighing like I was a tired old man, I embraced Arcueid in a deep hug. Being so close, I took in her smell, that of a garden in full spring.
Inching closer to her ears, I whispered, "I promise I'll repay you, whatever you want."
Letting her go, I turned around and prepared to open a Doorway to an unused meeting room—
"I'll accompany you then."
I whipped my head around, my face a mask of surprise.
"What— but why?"
Needless to say, her answer caught me off guard.
"Hey, I'm supposed to be spending tonight with you, not your subordinate," Arcueid said before wrapping her arms around mine, her head leaning on my shoulder lovingly, "Besides, you're the one who said you'll repay me however you wanted, no?"
"..." I sighed again, accepting her decision. "Alright, Ramiris, let's go to a more private place. Diablo, call Rimuru and Ririna since this is a threat to national security— actually, bring Jeanne as well, I think she can prove herself useful in ways other than training Rimuru and Rubedo."
Diablo nodded before teleporting away, the snapping of air echoed off the tall buildings.
I then made a Doorway to a private meeting room with a single long table in the center populated by numerous chairs that sits alongside the table. Two couches off in the corner acted like destroyers in your typical aircraft carrier strike group, serving an ancillary role as a dozen monitors on the wall displayed the Republic's flag.
As I waited, I thought about how to defeat Clayman.
'[Path to defeating Clayman]'
[1 step]
'only 1 step?'
[Step 1: launch Catastrophe-03 Torpedo at Clayman's castle]
Holy fuck no.
The Catastrophe-03, or C-03, is designed to be a long-range anti-planet weapon. A particular quirk of an Alcubierre Drive or anything similar is that if you attempt to reach superluminal speed, it'll turn the inside of the warp bubble into a soup of very hot fundamental particles. Using this cataclysmic property, the C-03 is little more than a solid slug attached to an Alcubierre Warp Drive, with the main payload being that solid slug.
This is a weapon designed to target near-stationary objects like planets since it can't really change course after it's been launched. Firing from the other end of the galaxy, the C-03 dissolves the surrounding warp bubble once it reaches within a thousand kilometers of its target and unleashes its payload of loose quarks, which at the lowest yield, contains enough energy to permanently sterilize the surface of a planet.
It is my own version of an ICBM, an ISWT: Interstellar Warp Torpedo.
Such an overkill...
I felt slightly disgusted at the suggestion of it taking more lives than needed. Granted, the C-03 would definitely end Clayman as a threat, but to render this whole planet uninhabitable? For just one person?
How callous.
One more time.
'[Path to defeating Clayman with no civilian casualties]'
[1664 Steps— error, other Ultimate Skill interference detected, path proved inaccurate, rerunning paths]
PAIN
I grimaced as an intense headache bloomed inside my brain like a cursed rose growing its thorny barbs, stabbing into my flesh and causing so much pain I crushed the handrest with my right hand while gripping my forehead with my left
"Scientia! Are you—"
I raised a hand, "I'm fine, just messing around with [Contessa],"
"You mean your Ultimate Skill?"
"Yeah, who else is named Contessa?" I said with a little bit of sass in my voice while the other True Ancestor just pouted. The pain made me irritable.
[New path detected, 231 steps]
'That was a rather large jump, what caused it?'
[Satanael]
'Who the hell owns [Satanael] and how the hell was Clayman under its umbrella of influence?'
[Clayman was under the umbrella protection of [Satanael, Lord of Wrath], which caused 99575 inaccuracies within the original path, recalculating accommodated for those inaccuracies]
'Are you so useless as to be unable to deal with any other Ultimate Skills?'
[Indignation]
[Data]
'Oh, so you just have a harder time dealing with other Ultimate Skills because of how chaotic they are?'
[Correction]
Now I'm feeling even more hesitant using [Contessa] again. I've seen too many movies and read too many books to not know that looking into the future has always been bad. Oftentimes driving the seer insane or creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Almost always it never ends well.
The snapping of air heralds the arrival of Diablo with Rimuru with Jeanne in tow. The slime and the hobgoblin both had a face showing grimness while the Yellow Primordial sulked akin to a child whose toy has just been taken away. Diablo meanwhile looked amused if anything, as if enjoying what was going to come next.
The four quickly took their own seats. Rimuru sat on the other end while Diablo sat next to me and Jeanne chose a random one, putting her feet on the table and leaning back on the chair. Arcueid chose to just sit on the couch.
The anticipation from both me and Rimuru was growing, though it seemed the other two Primordials were mostly unaffected.
"So," Rimuru began, "I was told that according to you, Miss Ramiris, that Tempest was in danger. What makes you say that Tempest is in danger?"
My mind noted how different he was from his usual self. For one, his posture displayed complete seriousness, and the casualness that seemed to accompany him everywhere like dogs to an owner was nowhere to be found.
The fairy cleared her throat, "Now, now, it's important not to panic. I should know, I used to panic a lot back in my younger days but the point still stands, even if it sounds scary, you mustn't panic at all." Ramiris emphasized.
"Clayman has set in motion a Walpurgis."
Walpurgis?
The word was German in origin. [Language] scoured the depth of my mind for any mention of Walpurgis and came up with Walpurgisnacht, a feast performed by most Christians on the eve of April 30th that celebrates the canonization of Saint Walpurga, who battled against pests, rabies, whooping cough, and witchcraft.
"How does a Christian feast factor into whether or not Tempest is in danger?" Arcueid asked suddenly, taking the words right out of my mind.
Ramiris stared at her blankly while the grim look on Rimuru's face morphed into one of amusement.
"Ah, of course, you don't get it. Walpurgis is so rare already. And what's a 'Christian'?"
The fairy stomped her foot onto the table, the smart material barely registering a hit made parts of my mind wonder just how did she become a Demon Lord.
I mean, for crying out loud, the Council of the West sees Demon Lords as mankind's greatest enemy. You don't get there by being unable to even damage anything.
"My Lady, Mr. President, Miss Brunestud, it would be my honor to introduce to you the concept of the Walpurgis." Diablo asked, and upon seeing my nod, he continued, "Walpurgis usually refers to a banquet between Demon Lords. From what I remember back when I walked the earth and the Demon Lords numbered in the dozens, Walpurgis happened all the time but rarely does anything impactful actually happen. However, most humans see Walpurgis as something to be dreaded, as the last well-known Walpurgis that happened was to discuss how to deal with Relentless."
So, it's like an annual meeting.
"Here, in Walpurgis, it was agreed upon that once it is invoked, all Demon Lords must attend. Even unofficial ones like yourself, my Lady."
My mind then dragged me to those first few days when Rimuru came back before I had Shizue walking around in a static chassis. In one of those books he brought back, it was said that if Demon Lords gather, a great change will occur.
"So... what's the great change this time?"
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AN: a shorter chapter, also, the relationship between Arcueid and Scientia isn't exactly the healthiest; the former is obsessed with the Perfect Homunculus while the latter is latching onto the True Ancestor like a lifeboat amidst a stormy sea of guilt.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein