Meanwhile, at a specific spot in the area where the event which would be later known as the 'Spark that lit the fire of the Alliance' had taken place.
A man with a short, immaculately trimmed beard wearing court robes that looked a few centuries old was bent over a piece of land while staring at it with complete seriousness.
Beside him stood a beautiful woman with long, brown hair that cascaded down to the small of her back.
She had a stoic expression on her face while watching a man walking around and 'resurrecting' people.
As for the old man, he looked like he was pondering about something.
Whenever someone walked in the direction they were standing, they would find themselves being unconsciously led elsewhere so that they would sidestep the exact spot of that piece of land.
Finally, shrugging his shoulders, the old man clenched his fist, which made two items jump out of the land in front of him, which had become a hole in an instant.
They were a rather dull but large Ker Root, and a round dinner-plate sized metal piece.
Taking the metal piece into his hands, the old man closed his eyes and began to analyze it, but after a few seconds, a vein started to throb on his forehead before he had to stop, forcefully.
Shaking his head, he stood up and said, "A Hero-level formation trinket. There is no Hero alive on this continent who is this capable in formations."
Hearing this, the woman raised her eyebrows with a start.
"Then…"
"Yes, the Empire Spirits are growing restlessly active again. The last time they did, we were almost wiped out. But this time…the threat is so much larger. First, let us leave this place. I do not want to risk the Church mounting an attack that would level this whole place along with us. Heh, I thought that kid King was doing something special, but he's just using a simple Warrior level wakeup spell. I do wonder how he got to the Peak Exalted Warrior level, though. Later on, maybe I'll have a talk with him, but for now, he's not the priority. We have bigger things on our plate."
Nodding, the woman flew up, while the man followed.
They stopped in a specific spot in the air, and although it looked no different than the vast sky around them, expressions of relief came on their faces as soon as they crossed some sort of invisible line.
"Ok, we're safe now. I ascertained that the goal of that formation was to make the bodies inside undergo some sort of process. We've examined the dead bodies, so we know that the objective was to 'purify' the blood. That should be the biggest clue that it is the Empire Spirit. Now that that's sorted, let's call in our main witness."
Saying so, the man flicked his fingers, following which Queen Eldra, or at least, the former Queen of Eldinor, suddenly found herself yanked from where she stood.
She had never even known that such a spell was possible. How was someone forcing her to teleport without even being there?!
Knowing that this might be what she was warned about, she steadied her heart and prepared to tell the story that she had discussed with King Daneel.
The old man saw her expression which didn't contain all that much surprise, which made him furrow his eyebrows and ask, "You look like you were expecting this. Do you know who we are?"
"Yes. When I was Mind Controlled by the Empire Spirit, Dinora, I was still aware of many of her thoughts as she liked voicing them out loud for me to hear. She called you…the 'monkeys' who are currently inhabiting the continent and will be wiped off first as soon as she regained her body."
Hiss!
Taking in a fast, deep breath, the old man looked at the Elf Queen with shock.
So this was that damn Empire Spirit's goal!
Resurrection using blood essence!
He had only been able to figure out the purpose of the formation, but he had no idea about what the other steps should be.
So, this thoroughly shocked both him and the woman standing beside him.
"Where is she now? What happened?"
The woman asked the Elf Queen this hurriedly, which, for some reason, made Eldra feel as though that voice sounded so pleasant to hear.
Shaking her head to get rid of that feeling, she said, "I don't know. I heard screams inside my head as soon as the veil broke…I mean, when the formation shattered by the heroic actions of King Daneel. I think…it might have been some backlash due to that."
This made the two look at each other, before the old man shrugged and said, "I can't gather much from the formation trinket, but I think that's possible as it looks like it needs an active connection with a consciousness in order to function. The result of the formation being forcefully stopped could result in a recoiling force that would definitely be deadly to an Empire Spirit. Oh, how the high and mighty have fallen."
As the old man said the last word, he was smiling wide.
Empire Spirits were practically the bane left behind by the Empire of Angaria that kept giving the Big 4 problems which they couldn't even handle appropriately with the power level they had right now. That incident where the Withering Leaf Sect had been wiped out because of the Black Raven Empire Spirit was just one of the many instances where the Big 4 had had their ass handed to them by the spirits.
They couldn't even do anything to stop them. It was impossible to move them, and 24/7 surveillance to stop people from accessing them wasn't feasible as one couldn't discount the possibility of even that surveillance being influenced for power.
Also, there was that damn statement left behind by the Emperor about Empire Spirits and about how they should take no actions that will limit the access of them by those who were worthy. It was said that that would be what would definitely lead to the true end of the Continent, so there were quite a few Heroes who believed in it and wanted to do nothing proactive. Instead, they wanted to 'hope'.
"So should we begin searching for those parts of the Grand Inheritance?", asked the woman, which made the old man frown and stop his ruminations.
"No, leave it be. When and if it is needed, it can be found easily. Until then, it is best not to waste our resources. Queen, you can leave. Just don't tell anyone about this conversation, or I would have to do something very…unpleasant to your mind. Got it?"
"B-but…"
The woman behind the old man tried to interrupt him, but he only raised a hand to stop her before addressing the Queen again.
"Got it?"
As soon as the Queen nodded, she was teleported back to where she had been.
"But the Ker Roots!"
The woman exclaimed this as soon as they were empty, which made the man stand up from the chair he had made for himself before.
"You think I don't know? We're scrounging for each and every Ker Root, and here we have a huge mine of them! But it's risky; I'm not aware what kind of formations might be left behind even if the Spirit is gone. Deploy a few Champions to begin a thorough search of each inch of the space below their Palace."
"Then why did you…"
Raising a hand to stop her again, the old man folded his hands behind his back and looked out over Angaria for a few seconds before speaking.
"Recently…I've begun to detect a force that is moving behind the shadows. There are too many coincidental things that don't make sense. For example, someone caused that false report about the Mad Doctor and the Echer seeds to be sent to Ashahell. I found no exact clues, but it was definitely not a simple clerical error. And I don't even believe that Ashahell was the one who killed the Mad Doctor's son and the other Sect Members. I know the kid. He wouldn't do something like that, even if it meant he could get away with it. Still, I went ahead and imprisoned him because I also know that he's capable of allying with the Church."
After pondering for a bit, the woman asked, "Could it be that the continent is…"
"No, this is not the continent. At least, I feel that that is not the case. I feel there is…someone or something behind the scenes, pulling the strings and manipulating us all with hidden motives. I just hope I'm wrong. Still, to be safe, in case that someone is capable of getting to the Queen, I told her that we're dropping the matter. It is best to keep our moves hidden from as many people as possible, and it wouldn't hurt to leave behind false information here and there to see if anyone falls for it. Let's go. We shouldn't leave our posts for too long."
After the man said this and left, an expression of disbelief appeared on the woman's face, before she teleported away, too.
For a few seconds, the sky returned to normalcy, with just a few birds here and there making a few sounds.
However, after that, a different man appeared here.
He was wearing maroon robes with a Dragon on each shoulder that looked like it was sitting there, and he had a small smile on his face.
Indeed, it was the King of Lanthanor.
"Young King, it was inevitable that you would leave behind some clues, but it looks like you are safe. What would you like to do next? I believe that your objectives in this Kingdom have been more or less fulfilled?"
Daneel looked down in consternation for a few seconds before replying. He did notice the palpable excitement in the Ancient Dragon's tone, so he knew that it was once again having fun by tagging along.
He had known that the Big 4 would arrive, and everything they had seen was what he had wanted them to see.
However, it seemed that a few other actions of his hadn't escaped their notice.
Still, as Drakos said, he was safe right now.
As for those Champions who would be searching through the area below the Palace of Eldinor, they would find nothing, as he had just transported the Energy Generator to a safe place below Lanthanor.
Finally, after thinking for a bit, he answered.
"To be honest, I didn't imagine that I would be in control of this many forces so soon. Still, there's no reason to slow down. I have three priorities now, Drakos: finding more Champion Paths so that I have more options before choosing my own, finding ways to control the other two Kingdoms, and winning that Race. Right now, we're free anyway, so let's get started on the second objective. Like you said, a Hero is uncontested in the Central Continent. So, let's make a visit to Arafell and Axelor and see what they're up to."
He was supposedly 'resting his mageroot' now so that he could resurrect more people, so he was free for the moment.
First, Daneel headed to Arafell.
He could still remember that seductive Queen who had tried to captivate him during the Olympics. Looking forward to finding out some inside information about her Kingdom, he was about to teleport inside their borders, but stopped when he heard Drakos's scream.
"YOUNG KING, STOP!"
Jerking to a halt in the air, Daneel wondered what the heck was wrong.
"There is a Hero-level formation here which I cannot hide you from. If you choose to enter those borders, the one in charge will know, and they will also find out that I am with you."
What?!
Daneel froze in shock in the air for a few moments, before hastily teleporting in the opposite direction first for safety.
It was only after he was hundreds of kilometers away from their border did he pause and take a deep breath.
Never before had Drakos's Hero-level anti-detection/camouflage spell failed him.
Now, he was supposed to believe that Arafell was somehow in possession of a formation of that level?!
Putting it to the side for the present, Daneel got a stinking suspicion.
To confirm it, he went to the border of the Kingdom of Axelor, before hearing the same message from Drakos.
With extremely furrowed eyebrows, Daneel tried to understand what was going on.
Both the Kingdoms of Arafell and Axelor…were in possession of Hero level formations that surpassed even the Big 4.
Did that mean that…the Empire Spirits there…?
No.
Deciding to not jump to conclusions, Daneel took a deep breath.
Whatever the case inside those Kingdoms was, one thing was clear.
He was definitely not as 'uncontested' on the Central Continent as he had thought he was.
....
Final details of contest:
Theme: WDS Spinoff
Submission: Mail to [email protected]
Last Date: 30th March 2019
Prizes: 1200 SS
Minimum Word Count: 500
Method of deciding winner: Voting
If you have any questions, please ask in the comments!