Aquafina watched as a small pod flew from the fleet outside the planet. The pod landed in front of her castle, and not long afterward, a few people came out. The leading convoy was a mermaid with dark skin and red hair.
Two people followed behind her: one tall and one extremely short, similar to a child in height. Aquafina recognized the tall one as a human, and the short one was a species called Free Elves.
The two followers did not have any protection despite being underwater. She could tell that their magical robe provided them with an invisible protective shield so they could survive in this environment.
Furthermore, these three were all Tier 6 Arcanists.
"Your majesty," said Ariel. "My name is Ariel Mertail, and these are my companions, Tong Yu and Cabby."
"There is no need for politeness. After all, after today, I no longer will be royalty."
"But currently, you are still of noble lineage, so respect is a must," replied Ariel. And although Aquafina knew this was because of a diplomatic mission, she was in a much better mood for her decision.
"Do you want to enter for some tea? I believe this is a common custom of your Empire."
"Normally, we would love to, but the current situation does not allow it. So, let's get to business."
"I understand."
Tong Yu took out a long scroll and handed it to Ariel, who then gave it to Aquafina.
"The infamous Contract of Surrender," said Aquafina as she skimmed through it. Then, she condensed a quill with her mana to sign it.
"Your majesty, should you be more careful?" said one of the ministers.
"No need. Since we are going to integrate into the Empire, we should have some level of mutual trust," Aquafina replied as she signed her name before dropping some blood on the scroll and leaving some imprints of her soul.
The contract then lit up after the signing process.
"Thank you for your trust," said Ariel with a beautiful smile as she took the scroll and placed it inside her interdimensional ring.
"It's my understanding that you have a way to purify the Death Energy of our planets?"
"Your majesty, you don't have to worry. We will deal with the rest. Now, if you could please tell us the general situation?"
Aquafina then gave the situation of the undead on the other planets. Bluewater Star System has four habitable planets where the Nagas once lived and prospered. However, three of them have already been conquered.
"Three Baron Vampires? That's Tier 6," muttered Ariel. "Alright, we will deal with them."
"Do you mind if I accompany you?" asked Aquafina. "I would love to see the Empire into action."
"Very well."
Aquafina then followed the squad into the pod despite the rejection of her ministers. Then, they flew to one of the largest ships in the fleet. Ariel conducted a meeting and allowed the former queen to participate.
However, she did not immediately attend. Instead, she went to a particular room on the ship and placed the contract before recording a message.
"This is Ariel Merail, security code 7r08477382hdge649du, reporting to HQ. The mission has been successful." Then, a few seconds later, the scroll disappeared as it was teleported away, making Ariel sigh in relief.
A few times, the contracts of surrender were intercepted, creating political problems. So, the new security protocol is to immediately teleport them back to HQ instead of transporting them through a long voyage.
After receiving a message from HQ, Ariel went to the meeting room.
"How is the situation?" she asked as soon as she entered.
"We have already blocked the entire Star System's Space to prevent reinforcements from the Undead Legion–not that they would care about lowly Baron Vampire," replied Tong Yu.
"Our sensors have detected an energy signature which signals that the undead is indeed Tier 6 and not hiding their strengths for an ambush."
Ariel nodded before looking at another person in the room: that person was wearing a unique magical hood that hid all information about them.
"According to my divination, there is nothing wrong with this regiment. It's just one of the many normal ones sent out to cause chaos and increase the number of undead."
"Alright," replied Ariel calmly. Aquafina was not calm and had to exercise extreme control to hide her emotions. After all, she had just learned that a regular regiment almost destroyed her race and ended her kingdom.
It was not fair, yet she understood the cruelty of the universe was as such; the strong preyed on the weak.
"My mission is finished," said the hooded figure. "And according to War Time Emergency Order, I will excuse myself."
Ariel nodded. In the current war, Diviners have become essential to gather accurate information. As such, they faced constant assassination from the Undead Legion.
There is even a secret squad under the Death God Guzznad, dedicated to killing Diviners of the most influential civilizations. The Starskin Race suffered the most under this squad since they have even more Diviners than the Empire.
(AN: Nightskin race will now refer to as Starskin.)
And after the Empire suffered a few successful assassinations, new protocols were established to ensure the safety of Diviners. They will wear magical robes that hide their identity and will not stay long in any active war zones.
After giving the information, the hooded figure went to a special room that directly teleported them back home.
"Then, let's begin," said Ariel. The fleet then separated into three, each heading to a different planet. She took Aquafina to Bluesea Planet, where a black shield surrounded the entire planet.
Ariel ordered the ship canons to bombard the ship, and after firing a few rounds, the shield popped like a balloon.
Then, a magic circle appeared underneath her feet, surrounding her and Aquafina. They disappeared and appeared on the only piece of land on the planet.
"Damn the Arcane Empire," said a cold voice. It was a pale man with four long fangs dressed like a nobleman from the Middle Age. Numerous dark lights entered his body from different places on this planet.
"Trying to absorb the souls of the other undead to become stronger?" said Ariel with a smirk. She raised her hand to cast a spell. A magic circle appeared with weird writings on the corner.
The writing was composed of Sanskrit, ancient Egyptian, and other languages.
[Undead Purification]
This was a spell Edward created based on the Book of the Dead, the Golden Book of Amuhra, and the Oracle from his previous voyage.
After Ariel cast her spell, the souls of these undeads, mostly skeletons, flew from their bodies and entered the Underworld, and their physical bodies became useless.
"Damn it, I cannot die here," yelled the Vampire; once he saw the Arcane Empire's ships, he wanted to use this method to raise his Tier quickly. But the transformation was not as simple as he thought.
[Blood Tentacles]
Countless blood tentacles came from his body and headed straight for Ariel, trying to turn her into a shish kebab.
"Don't you know better to confront an Arcanist at the same Tier?" she said with a sneer. A magic circle appeared before her, creating a powerful jet of flame that turned the blood tentacles into ashes.
Ariel then raised her head to see a bunch of bats flowing into the sky and used another spell.
[Lightning Judgment]
A pillar of thunder descended from the sky on all the bats. Then, the Vampire's complete body fell to the ground with smoke on his body. He wanted to curse these Arcanists and whoever created that system.
All of them were powerful and could use powerful spells without pausing. They were strong physically and masters of hand-to-hand combat. Then there was the fact they were not restricted by any attributes and could use all types of magic. This was something even the undead could not do.
Ariel snapped her finger, and the vampire passed out.
"Envious?" she said, looking at Aquafina.
"Honestly, I am. Such a powerful and versatile magic system." As a water creature like herself, Ariel should only be able to use water magic–unless she had some special bloodline, a mutation, or used magical artifacts. But that was not the case.
"You will also be like me after you integrate into the Empire."
"I can learn your magic system despite being a foreigner?"
"There is no foreigner in the Empire, only its citizen. After the final integration, you can go to school to learn our magic system at no cost. Then, you can innovate to make it better and push its boundaries, creating a cycle of progress."
Aquafina paused for a moment, "That sounds beautiful and all, but can the Empire be so selfless? To give away such a precious thing…."
She could not fathom doing such a thing despite knowing the benefit. The Naga royal family has hidden its most powerful spells and magical artifacts for thousands of years. And even though she loved her people and would do anything to protect them, she was also selfish and wanted her family to have the power to rule.
"This is the charm of the Arcane Emperor," replied Ariel. "Alright, let's deal with the other mess."
Then, she looked at the dark ocean. She used a spell to scan the entire planet. Ariel then cast a large-scale spell; countless magic circles appeared in the sky, covering the entire planet.
Then, countless water bubbles flew from the bottom of the ocean; there were so many of them that the sun was almost covered.
"Are those?"
"Undead," replied Ariel.
"What's going to happen to them?"
"They will be sent to a facility that will awaken their intelligence and past memories before turning into undead. The successful one will be integrated into the Empire as citizens, while the others will be purified."
"Is it really alright for undeads to be treated as citizens?" asked Aquafina.
"I know you have your prejudice, but you have to understand most of them were ordinary people before they were forced into this state. Many of them have now become our allies and are now fighting on many battlefields across the galaxy. Their contributions to this war are no less than any other race or civilization.
"Furthermore, there is still the hope that the Empire will find a way to revert them to their former selves."
"What about the Vampire? What's going to happen to him?"
"According to the Empire's Laws, he is my personal property now. So, I can do what I please with him."
Aquafina sighed but no longer commented. Meanwhile, Ariel contacted the ship.
"Come get the undead. Plus, send in the Druids to purify this place."
Not long afterward, the ship descended on the planet and began to load the captured undead into a spacious pocket dimension inside the spaceship. At the same time, a bunch of Arcanists dressed in clothes with a nature theme also arrived.
They flew around the ocean while dropping seeds. Once they finished, they chanted a spell that echoed throughout the planet. As they chant, enormous white trees began to grow from the bottom of the ocean.
Then, the tree rapidly turned dark, and they did so, and the ocean slowly returned to its blue color. A few hours later, the dark sea had returned to its original color, and Aquafina rushed to check.
As she played with the water, she could no longer sense any death energy, and she did not need to protect herself when interacting with the water.
"It's really purified," she muttered.
"The process will be complete in another few days, but it is good enough for now," said one of the druids.
"Is there anything I need to help with?"
"No. Someone will come to take the trees away a few days later."
"Alright."
The druids then entered the ship to depart. Their services were needed throughout the galaxy, and they could not spend all their time on one planet. Although they would love to stay and listen to the thanks of the Planet Will, they had a mission to preserve nature in many other places.
Solar System, Pluto, HQ Headquarters:
Oliver was in a room full of people with many screens in front of her. She was dressed in a typical general uniform with medals. However, she did not wear it appropriately, showing her neck. Strangely, she had a bunch of green veins that looked like worms under her beautiful skin.
"Commander, we received a notice of surrender from the Naga Race in the Blue Water System."
"Send an envoy to accept their surrender. Make sure there is no problem, diplomatic-wise, and clean up the undead there," Olivier replied. After saying these words, she closed one of the dozens of screens to concentrate on something else.
Each screen consisted of a live confrontation of the war, and she needed to pay close attention. Suddenly, one of her screens went dark. She immediately contacted the battalion responsible for that particular battlefield.
"Commander, we have lost Point Star System, so I ordered a retreat," said Captain Tanaka. "I request reinforcement before trying again."
"Send me the casualty report," said Oliver calmly. She then reviewed the report. Captain Tanaka led a medium fleet of more than 100 ships, but half of them were destroyed by one of an undead squadron, killing countless soldiers and Arcanists.
"There is no need for reinforcement. We will abandon Point Star System for now."
"Commander, as long as I have a few more ships, I guarantee to reverse the situation."
"I do not doubt your capability, Captain Tanaka. After all, the enemy had at least three times the number of ships, and your order of retreat was correct. However, Point Star System is not a priority at the current stage, so there is no point in losing more manpower to acquire it."
"I see," replied Tanaka while secretly clenching his hand. He knew with how competitive the military was currently, his defeat would derail his career. And without the opportunity to undo this shame, he also could not live with himself. After all, his men counted on him.
Nevertheless, he obeyed his command.
After closing the communication, Olivier focused on another screen that needed her attention.
"Commander, we have detected two First Generals," said an officer.
Olivier quickly checked the location. First General meant that a Tier 8 Undead had appeared, so she needed to act soon.
'Leaf Tree Star System and Red Number Star System.'
"We will send troops to Red Number Star System as soon as possible."
"What about Leaf Tree?"
"That's the elf's territory. Let them deal with it," Oliver replied calmly. Red Number Star was very close to the Empire's border, less than 3000 light-years from a Star System recently conquered.
"As you wish, commander. But, there is still a problem: we are short on Tier 7 Arcanists."
Olivier did not waste time and pulled a screen with a list of civilian Tier 7 Arcanists. She looked through the screen while the information of all these people appeared in her mind. Then, she picked up someone and contacted him.
"Who the hell is disturbing my research…Your majesty, sorry for my rudeness; I was distracted," said a young man in his early 30s with brown hair. Oddly, he also had the same veins on his neck as Olivier, except his were not as prominent.
"It doesn't matter. John Carter, you've been officially recruited for a mission. Prepare to mobilize."
"Your majesty, According to War Time Mobilization Act, section 134b, I would like to pay Arcane Points for compensation to be excused of my duty," replied John.
"I'm invoking Section 6D as this is a special circumstance."
A look of displeasure appeared on John's face after hearing this. However, Olivier did not care.
"If you wish, you can head to the Mobilization Safety Department. Nevertheless, you have five minutes to head to the designated area and be deployed."
Then, Olivier cut off the communication.
John cursed out loud for a few seconds before thinking about his next step. He did not dare not obey a deployment order as he knew the consequences. He had seen the fate of some Tier 7 Arcansists who thought they were now too powerful for the Empire to control.
He was just considering whether to go to the Safety Department. However, he did not think for too long before deciding; he did not want to die.
So, he exited his Demiplane before apparating to the nearest government Warp Portal. He showed his identification as a newly deployed soldier, allowing him to skip the line and also granting him access to teleport to the Mobilization Safety Department.
After the teleportation, he saw a middle age woman with a severe look waiting for him.
"Are you John Carter?" she asked.
"Yes," replied John with some timidity in his voice. He could sense numerous powerful weapons pointed at him now. And he knew if he did something out of line, he would be instantly obliterated.
Then, she took a device that scanned John's body, mana signature, soul, fingerprints, and even DNA.
"You're indeed you," she said in a monotone voice. "Sign this."
A hologram appeared before he and John signed it. The latter did not say anything else as a magic circle appeared underneath the two, and they teleported to a room full of machines.
"Lie down on the machine. This will hurt a little."
John knew time was of the essence, so he did not attempt small chats. He laid on the metal bunch and a bunched of runes appeared around him. Then, he felt intense pain; he wanted to curse the woman for saying it would only hurt a little.
A few seconds later, diamond with something inside appeared floating above his head.
'Is that my soul? How beautiful?' thought John.
"This piece of your soul will be stored in a special location. In case of your untimely death, it will be used for your revival," said the latter as some golems walked into the room to take the diamond away.
"I'm aware of this," replied John.
The stern lady nodded her head before continuing: "You should also understand this method is not absolute. If you die by the Death God's {Death Authority], you have a 50% chance of permanent death."
"50%? That seems a little high."
"You should be glad you have a chance at all," replied the lady. Only in the Empire where people could survive True Death Spell from a Death God. "Now, do you want other means of resurrection for assurance?"
"What other method is there?"
"We can copy your memories and transfer them to a clone."
"No, thank you," John quickly replied. He did not want to turn into a clone with a different soul. To him, such a revival is not revival at all but turning into a completely different person.
"As you wish. Do you have any questions?"
"Do I have to pay for the resurrection?"
"No. The Empire will pay for it."
"What about the resources to return to Tier 7?"
"The Empire will pay 30% of it."
"That's fair. What about my soul? What's going to happen to it?"
"After your deployment, you can choose to do with it as you please."
John sighed in relief after hearing this. One of the reasons he hesitated to come here was that he feared the Empire possessed a piece of his soul. Even then, after getting it back, he will not immediately fuse with it but see some of his friends who are Soul Magic experts to check for any problems.
"Since you don't have anything else to ask, proceed to your next destination."
John then used the Safet Department's Warp Portal to teleport to a military based in Saturn. And as soon as he arrived, he saw two men waiting for him.
John looked at the muscular man with tattoos on his pale skin.
'A Viking? Based on his leak and slightly uncontrollable mana, he just reached Tier 6.'
He then focused on the other person: he had dark skin as beautiful as the night, but his eyes were reptilian.
'Dragon Bloodline?'
"My name is John Carter, Tier 7 Arcanist focusing on Illusion Magic. It's a pleasure to meet all of you," said John as he went for a handshake. Then, he remembered he was conversing with military men, so he did a military salute by placing his left arm behind his back and his right hand on his left shoulder.
"You can call me Gorm, Tier 6 Physical Arcansist, sub-category Viking Warrior."
"The name is Abiodun Ngozi, Tier 6 Bloodline Arcanist and a Dragon Knight."
John was slightly surprised after hearing Abiodun's introduction. To have a draconian bloodline and be a Dragon Knight was a great accomplishment.
"The Vikings and the Dragon Knights are the Empire's most elite forces. With you two, this mission should be easier."
"On the contrary," said Gorm. "The fact we are being deployed means that the threat of the enemy is not something to underestimate."
John's face became ugly for a moment before controlling himself.
"Indeed. Alright, let's deploy."
He wanted to complete this mission as quickly as possible and return to his laboratory.
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