***Midhold, Research Facility***

***Angrod***

The months passed and we kept visiting the school while our military and the rebellion settled into a silent stalemate without actually coming to blows with each other. Our parents did a great job at taking control of the situation. It's safe to say that right now, the entire north is in a complete lock-down.

Of course, this didn't happen without conflict. There were areas like population centres and mines which my parents simply didn't want to forsake to the enemies. This resulted in some nasty battles. Battles which our parents were willing to fight, even if the toll had to be paid in blood. I didn't argue their judgement.

It was indefinitely better to establish a border that was easy to defend than to allow the enemy to hold strategic valuable positions.

As time passed, it became a certainty that the traitorous nobles were hoping to draw others to their side. Reports came in that painted a detailed picture of how the Meltheims tried to reach out to families who were still loyal to the crown. But thanks to remaining calm, most families decided that staying on the crown's side is the safer bet.

My father and Nicosar took it upon themselves to keep a close eye on the situation. The inevitable result is that they are on campaign for most of the time.

I am in my third school year, which makes me thirteen years old, but right now it's the weekend and I am inside my laboratory.

Whenever I have nothing to do, I visit my research facility which is located in the mountains to the north of Midhold.

The whole research complex is still a work in progress, though I am quite satisfied with our achievements. I offered every worker on the construction site permanent employment and a pretty good payment in exchange for their silence.

Instead of doing it like the old pharaohs, I decided to permanently employ the poor fools who built my secret base.

Everything is financed through my new power plant, a fusion reactor, which is thanks to magical short-cuts the easiest way to generate vast amounts of power.

We are providing a sizeable part of the city's energy requirements, and the good part is that there is even enough left for some pretty cool experiments.

My work-crew is currently working on a particle accelerator. It's for one of my future projects and the materials come directly from the mountain. Hardly any of my employees are still working in their original function, so I have to thank the multiverse that this world doesn't care for qualifications when it comes to employment, or my current business model wouldn't work.

My facility is already a huge complex, but I have a bigger endgame in mind. For that, I will need time, space and resources. Once everything comes together, those suckers in the north will get a big surprise.

I also love having my own place! Here, I can play around as much as I want. Nobody can disturb me. More importantly, no Celes! This is a Celes-Free zone. It's bad enough that her strange change in attitude makes her stick to me like chewing gum on a shoe.

“Deeeaaaar! Guess who it is!” Someone covers my eyes from behind.

“Wah!” Surprised, I jump a quarter of a foot up into the air as I slap at my attacker's hands. The reaction of a normal person might be to smile and play the game, but I was stabbed from behind too many times to feel anything but discomfort at being surprised.

Turning around, I face my bane. How can Celes be here? I am sure that I gave the order that nobody except me and authorized personnel are allowed in this complex!

Who betrayed me? I will massacre the security staff for this!

Drawing in a deep breath, I let it out slowly before I ask in a moody voice, “Celes. How did you get here?”

“I threw my princessly influence around... and greased one or two hands,” she admits. “The guy at the entrance was a hard nut to crack, but once I started twisting his hand he was very cooperative.”

“Um... What exactly did you do to him?” I ask. Did she literally twist his hand, or did she find a way to blackmail him?

“I used a few secret catchphrases our parents gave me for a case of emergency. Did you really think that they would give you control over their military staff without having assurances?” Celes asks with a raised eyebrow. It's almost as if she is asking me whether I am really that stupid.

So, greasing hands meant that she suckered up to our parents. Damn! The simplest solution is also the most effective one!

Looking behind her, I find Stephen behind Celes. “I see that you have brought more visitors?”

“Hi, you have a nice facility here!” Stephen greets me, waving a hand.

I smile. “Thanks, but it is a work in progress, so expect more to come.”

Turning around, Celes looks like she is searching for something. “Huh? Where is Margerie?”

The gears in my head slow down as I process the name.

Stephen turns, looking down the corridor behind him. “Hmm, strange... three corners ago she was still behind me.”

The gears in my head stop and I look at Celes with a deadpan expression. “Do you two want to tell me something? Surely, it's not that you brought Margerie here? Surely, you don't want to tell me that a mad scientist is loose in here? There is tons of dangerous equipment around and you are telling me that you let Margerie from the leash? Without supervision?!”

Stephen's and Celes's expressions say it only all too clearly: Guilty!

“If it helps, Tanja ran off earlier without asking. We couldn't catch her, so we didn't really lose her. She said something about 'perfect infiltration training' and vanished.” Stephen scratches the back of his head.

I slap my head and walk over to a communication screen. The LCD-Displays are mounted to the walls at regular intervals to ensure easy access. Allowing the device to scan my fingerprint, I activate the communication link to the chief of security. His name is Drem Snowden and he and his team were selected by my parents.

“Yes?” Snowden's voice comes out of the microphone beneath the display.

“Errr, my friends paid me a visit and two got lost inside the complex. One is a happy-go-lucky ninja. The other is a mad scientist on the run. Could you please fetch them and bring them to the main lab?” I ask, trying my best to be friendly, just to lure the man in false security. Snowden won't know what hit him once I get to discuss a word about 'espionage' with the two of us alone.

“...” There is a short silence, as if the man senses the threat in my voice. “Understood. We will search for a ninja and a mad scientist. Is the ninja dangerous?”

“No, the ninja isn't.” I hesitate for just a moment before the next words come out. “But you are allowed to stun the mad scientist if she is anywhere close to sensitive equipment.”

“Hey!” Celes gasps, offended that I would do such a thing to one of her friends.

“It is for her safety!” I reply quickly.

Celes shoves me to the side. “No stunning! Just bring her here!”

“Yes, princess,” Snowden replies in a pained tone. He sounds like a faithful dog, caught between two masters who are giving different instructions.

He quickly deactivates the line before we can make his day even more difficult.

I huff, feeling no sympathy for the man. If he had done his job, he wouldn't be in this situation.

Then something comes to my mind. “How did you even find me here? You were never here before!?”

“My mother gave me directions,” Celes points out the obvious.

Of course, if my parents gave her the secret catchphrase, then why not also the plans to my base... their base...

I let out a tired sigh. I should have predicted all of this. That's what I get for using my father's personnel and resources. To be honest, I am kind of proud of him to have left his soldiers with secret instructions which allow him to overrule my orders. It shows that he is thinking ahead.

Despite being peace-loving fools, our parents aren't quite as stupid as I feared them to be.

“So, we wanted to pay you a visit and see how you are doing. You are hard to find out here.” Stephen looks around. “To be honest, when Celes told me about your private project, I thought it to be much... much smaller.”

I sigh and gesture for them to follow me. “Come with me, I will show you the lab and the newest of my inventions.”

“Oh, cool! Have you made the ring for me, Angrod!? Have You?” Celes hooks arms with me. A week ago, she asked me to create a ring-shaped device like the wristband.

I am pretty certain that getting a wedding ring is another objective on her list. It's kind of obvious, but I made it anyway. Currently, I am thinking big, but having the right techniques for miniaturisation available can't hurt.

“I won't kneel!” Retrieving a box from my pocket, I shove it into her hands.

“Oh, thank you!” She hugs me while I continue walking, dragging her with me. Why do I always get this warm feeling when she hugs me? It is not right! Not right I say! Her burning kisses are also hard to endure without giving me a serious case of a hard-on. How will I resist once she actually looks like a woman?

After a short walk, we arrive at my main lab. Well maybe not a lab. A big dome would be a more proper term.

I rummage through some stuff until I find what I am looking for. Taking the remote control, I activate an elevated screen. It shows a bird's-eye view from high in the air.

“What's that?” Celes asks.

“I used Margerie's overpowered drone technology and pepped it up for high altitude flights. Then I installed some surveillance technology like optics and infra-red. Admittedly, I relied on magitech to cheat my way through some of the complicated steps. A little magic for the long-distance controls. This drone and others are currently mapping the entire north. If I want to, I can count the hairs on Sarda's head,” I explain with a moderate amount of smugness. I probably shouldn't mention that I programmed the drones to go kamikaze upon identifying a member of the Meltheim or Tulhelm families.

“You know where they are?” Celes raises her eyebrow, clearly impressed.

“Not exactly. It looks like the whole bunch set up residence at Mount Seria. A little bit arrogant to name a mountain after a god isn't it? Anyway, they are hiding there, keeping their heads down.”

For obvious reasons. My first assassination attempt failed quite spectacularly when my drone missed Meltheim's wife by an inch.

I shouldn't have been so eager and trusting in my work, since there are still some bugs in the control software. It's unfortunate that the Meltheims are quick learners. They didn't give me a second chance once they realized what was going on.

“That's really cool!” Stephen comments, stepping forward. “Can you drop it on their heads? It would be funny if one of them suddenly gets squashed by big chunk of metal out of nowhere.”

Sorry, already tried that.

“Maybe we will do that later,” Celes comments, clearly not impressed by the impulsive idea.

Thankfully, we are interrupted by Snowden entering the control-dome, dragging Tanja and Margerie at their necks behind him.

While Tanja has her arms crossed and is obviously pissed at being caught by a guard, Margerie is busy with one of the LCD-Displays which are mounted to the walls in the corridors.

She broke it out of its socket and dissected the whole thing like some animal, neatly separating magitech from mundane Si-based circuitry. I am far away from creating any kind of complicated CPU, so I had to solve my processing problems with magitech. The result was a strange amalgam of non-magical and magical technology.

Admittedly, the current resolution of my displays isn't the best, but we are working on it. Grainy pictures are currently the least of my problems.

“Haaah. Haahah. That's so cool. I never thought about using electricity to change the pigmentation of some elements in order to show a picture of something. And the backlight is an ingenious solution to the low light-output! It's almost like a master-enchanter's Illusion mirror, only that it requires a tenth of the resources!” Margerie doesn't even pay attention to her surroundings as she drools all over her kill.

“I guess I should be happy that she found interest with one of the communication screens first and didn't rip out a plasma cord from my power plant,” I comment coolly.

“Angrod! How does this work? I need to know!” Noticing me, she extracts herself from the hands of my chief of security, leaving the middle-aged man behind. Snowden looks surprised at the nimbleness of his catch, but the stout man catches himself, only revealing his displeasure from the way he pulls back his long, fluffy ears.

I am not completely sure what his blood-trait is. Whether he is wolfkin or something else. The features of his trait are too indistinct.

“Is there anything else?” Snowden asks.

“No, thank you.” I wave, dismissing him.

The guard lets go of Tanja and turns around to leave, proving himself to be the silent type.

“He got me too easily,” Tanja grumbles.

“Don't ignore me, Angrod!” Margerie shoves the dissected communication screen right in front of my face.

That's it. I have to do something to get her off my back. “If you don't pester me any more, you can have one of those screens, containing blueprints and explanations which show you all the information about my current projects.” At least those which don't have city-levelling potential. Right now, I wouldn't be too sad if Margerie blew herself up.

A tragic accident, of course.

The dead animal is instantly removed from my vision.

Once I am sure that she is serious about behaving herself, I walk over to a table with one of my portable computers. I turn it on and give it to Margerie, hoping that this isn't a big mistake. Her family's blood-trait is perfect memories, but even for the Cygnus, Margerie is bordering on the level of a genius. It's one thing to simply have knowledge and something else to understand and recombine it in a practical application.

“You sure did much in the last few months. I can't believe you achieved all that by yourself,” Celes whistles, looking around the room.

“It's thanks to my father's hard workers. The only thing I did was telling them what to do. To expedite things, our project number one was an automated factory. It was a pain to realize it, but once it was up and running, things went smoothly. Until a month ago, my whole workforce was busy with it. Now it's spitting out parts and all my people have to do is assembly work.”

“I must see that!” Stephen sounds interested.

“Maybe I will give you a tour later. It certainly sounds better than it actually is. The thing is limited to machining metal-parts, but that's already helpful in itself.” I walk over to the control console for my drones and press a few buttons. Instead of the bird's-eye view, the screen switches to a cartographic representation of the north.

Looking up, Margerie studies the map, raising her eyebrows. “That's wrong.”

“What's wrong?” Celes steps closer, trusting in Margerie's impeccable memory.

“There isn't enough industry! Here, here, here.” Margerie points out several cities around Mt. Seria. “Those are big population centres. There should be heavy traffic on the streets, but there is nothing. Can you enlarge that?”

I do so, zooming in on one of the cities. Now that Margerie pointed it out, I also take notice of the fact that there is not enough traffic on the roads.

From close up the city looks like a ghost town. No cars, no transports, no people.

“Okaay! That's disturbing.” I comment the obvious. “I don't understand how I missed this up until know.”

“For how long did you have the drones?” Celes asks.

“A few days,” I admit. “I've concentrated most of my efforts on Mt. Seria and on creating a search-algorithm that allows me to find stuff. It's not like I've the time to watch several hundred hours of observation footage.”

“I see no technology. No cars, no city lights, no traffic regulators, nothing that would require rare minerals.” Stephen points out several spots. “It looks like someone dismantled everything within easy reach.”

I purse my lips. “Maybe the residents themselves did it? It's only been a few months. I don't see how our enemies could have enough workforces to do that by themselves.”

“I think we should call our parents. They need to know that something fishy is going on.” Celes pulls out a crystal slate, this world's magitech version of a phone.

***Midhold, Royal Embassy***

***Celes***

Angrod installed a big screen in Arthur's cartography room, so that we could show him what was happening up in the north. Aside from the surprise of being called away from their work, our parents were suitably impressed by this technological feat, so they held back and listened while I gave them the latest news.

Margerie took the small computer with her, so I am certain that a new wave of technology will spread like wildfire. Her brother and Tanja decided to join her, since they didn't appreciate the idea of infringing on a meeting with our parents.

“This looks bad. What happened to all the people?” Arthur rubs his forehead while he tries to figure out what our enemy is up to.

I can't blame him, since I am already assuming the worst. Surely, one of our drones will find some kind of deathcamp any second now that we are looking for it.

“They haven't relocated to other cities,” Ireth comments and sits down on the couch. “I am sure that we would have noticed that. Generally, it's hard to get any information from the north nowadays, and now we know why the area around the City of Light is a black hole. But we still have informants in the outer regions.” She snorts. “No. If they had relocated all those people closer to the border, we would have heard something. The only reasonable answer is that they went further away.”

“Which means that they migrated to the City of Light. But what do you need so many materials and people for? And how many are missing?” Katrine tilts her head, studying the map. “I think there should be a few hundred thousand at least? After all, we are talking about four big cities.”

“It seems like they prioritized stuff that contains magitech.” Angrod shrugs and starts counting on his fingers. “The material can be used for magic circuits, rune magic, magic circles. There is also the fact that those cities are completely empty of people regardless of age and occupation. If they wanted the workforce, they would leave behind anyone who doesn't fulfil the criteria, so I can only come to the conclusion that those people are fuel.”

Our parents turn as one, looking at Angrod with horrified expressions.

Turning, he looks behind himself, making sure that there isn't something terrifying behind him. When he sees only Ghost, who is stretched out on the floor, lounging lazily along the wall, he turns back, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

“F- fuel?” Katrine asks.

Angrod's expression lights up as he enters teacher-mode. “Well, living bodies are the best containers for mana. If you want to cast a really big spell, you need a lot of energy. If you want to cast a huge ritual on the fly, you can just get it from a random bunch of people. If you are too stupid to power your spell with a more sensible method, it's a viable solution.”

I slap my own forehead. Why did he have to say it with so much enthusiasm? I am sure that there would have been a more sensitive way to clue them in.

“What would they want to achieve with sacrificing people on that scale?” I ask, speaking to myself. There aren't many spells which need that much power.

“I don't know,” Angrod admits. “The whole method isn't very effective, so I gave up on it long ago. Maybe they want to destroy the world or summon a god.” He scratches his head. “I don't claim that I can look into an insane idiot's mind.”

I give him 'the look' and he huffs. “I am an 'insane genius'! That's different!”

“Sure it is...” I return my attention to the screen.

“They want to summon Seria!?” Arthur bursts out.

“He said they may want to summon 'a' god. I assume it doesn't have to be Seria.” Ireth corrects Arthur, then turns to face us. “Do you two know anything about it? Which god could they want to let loose on the world.”

Angrod quickly raises his hands, palms out. “Hey! The thing with the god was just wild speculation. It really could be anything!”

I cover my face and groan. “Angrod? Why don't you just shut up for a moment.” We are on dangerous territory. That's nothing our parents are supposed to hear. The last thing I want is to have an awkward debate about gods – which would inevitably lead to our status as Seria's chosen ones.

When I look up, I notice that everyone is looking at us.

“Hahaha. How should we know?” I try to avoid the subject, but Katrine steps closer and pats my head.

“It's okay little miss. We know that you two are much older in your mind than you look. It's not really hard to imagine who you two really are, going by your titles.” She kneels down and looks me in the eyes. “It doesn't change anything. You are still our children.” Then her tone changes and she smiles. “And children who are having secrets from their parents are naughty. I think that we've danced around the topic for long enough.”

She points at the screen. “This situation is clearly beyond what mere revolutionists like the Tulhelms or the Meltheims could cook up inside their traitorous brains. It's time to come clean and think about what we are up against.”

Angrod and I stay silent while my mother ruffles my hair. When it becomes clear that neither of us is willing to spill the beans, Katrine's fingers clamp down on my head like a vice.

At first, I only widen my eyes and channel my internal mana as my mother increases the pressure. Reaching up, I try to pull away, but it's like her hand is an immovable object. How can she be so strong when she is only relying on her blood-trait!? Admittedly, I am a child, but I've spent years on retraining my martial arts and I still can't keep up.

The pressure – and with it the pain – builds up until I am actually afraid that one misstep might actually burst my skull like a ripe melon. Thinking only about self-preservation, words spill quickly from my mouth. “There are millions of gods out there in the multiverse! We really can't tell who or what they are trying to summon. Like Angrod said, if it is a summoning.”

Katrine eases up on the pressure and sighs in dismay. “I wish you would just believe us that it doesn't matter what you two did in a previous life. Just come clean with us. What do we have to expect if those people are really trying to summon a god other than Seria.”

Angrod looks down at the floor. “Personality-wise, gods are just like every random person you could pick from the street, so I assume the Meltheims won't be happy with the result.”

“Which means?” Arthur urges him on.

“Well. How would you react if someone summons you to another world out of nowhere?” I shrug.

Arthur purses his lips. “I wouldn't like it.”

Angrod raises a lecturing finger. “Exactly! Even a minor god can change the landscape with a thought if he gets fired up. So, there are all sorts of possible outcomes. The summoned deity might be bored and decide to help the Meltheims. Maybe he is indifferent and just goes home, wasting all their effort. Or he loses his shit and crushes a few impudent flies.”

“Hopefully just the people in the immediate vicinity, and not us and the world too – as collateral damage,” I clarify, my voice turning grave.

“Hmmmm.” Arthur grumbles, studying us. “Is that what the religious texts are telling us? That the world was reborn in the cleansing fire of creation as Chaos and Order clashed with each other.”

Angrod and I look at each other with mirthful expressions until we finally admit in unison. “We were pissed!”

I gesture wildly at the screen. “It still doesn't make sense! Seria reincarnated us in this mortal form and imprisoned us on this world as punishment! I would assume that she took some measures that not any random god could interfere with her great plan! So, why is someone other than us messing around on this world? If Seria or the Council wanted something from us, couldn't they just take it?”

“Hold your horses.” Angrod raises a hand. “We still haven't confirmed that it is a summoning ritual. I refuse to come to any conclusion regarding our uncertain situation until we have more information. Too many things don't add up. As an example, I still don't understand why there aren't any stars in the sky.”

I have wondered about that too, but there are all sorts of strange dimensions in the multiverse. I just assumed Seria brought us somewhere where she could be certain that nobody interferes.

“What are 'stars',” Arthur rolls the strange word in his mouth.

I am about to tell him that it's not important when suddenly a few of our fortresses on Arthur's scrying table light up and vanish.

Frowning, Arthur walks to his map, which is thanks to scrying magic almost as accurate as real-time satellite footage. “What happened? A malfunction?”

Angrod takes his tablet and looks at the large screen which he installed on the wall. Frowning, he switches through drone footage until one of them shows a mushroom cloud and he pales.

I know that this world knows some serious long-range magic. So those clouds aren't unfamiliar to its people. The rituals for strategic-class spells take long to prepare and gathering the necessary energy is hard. So, we just got the confirmation that at least some of the missing people were taken for their magic.

The enemy didn't go small either to take out those fortresses. These explosions are larger than those which were reported about in the history books I read.

Ireth shrieks and covers her mouth with her hands, then turns away to face the wall and starts to crying. Sobbing, she goes to her knees.

I don't get what's going on, so I quickly walk over to find out what's wrong. Holding Ireth's hand, I notice that my parents also turned pale.

“What's wrong?” I ask my mother.

“Nicol and Nicosar were in one of those – if they kept to their schedule,” Angrod answers my question with an enraged whisper. “They left on another tour just a few days ago.”

Arthur is the first to catch himself, keeping a cool head. “We have to retaliate. Their forces are starting to move.”

“The roads are all secured by mines, they won't be able to invade that fast.” Katrine comes over and also tries to calm down Ireth.

I myself am lost for words. Did they really just kill Nicol and the old perverted geezer?

Arthur raises a hand to his ear, casting communication magic, probably to ensure that the line of command is still intact despite Nicol's likely demise. He quickly gets in contact with someone and starts giving commands, ordering our remaining forces to move. Though, a lot of our people were in and around those fortresses. Our troops will have to fall back and establish a new front-line if we want to defend our cities.

It sucks! Feeling helpless, I ball my left hand into a fist, hard enough to dig my fingernails into the skin of my palm. Why do I have to be weak!? I should have devised some plague to wipe out our enemies ages ago! Before any of this could have happened!

Why are there always idiots who have to fight stupid wars? Is the entire multiverse cursed to suffer and struggle?

I notice that Angrod is on the floor next to his mother, playing with his tablet while holding her hand.

“Do you really think it is the right time to play with your toys, Angrod?” I snap at him, knowing that I am irrational, but he is the only target for my helpless frustration. He should be trying harder to comfort Ireth.

He just lost his father and grandfather! People who he should care about! He should show some sort of emotion. Instead, he is smiling at his computer.

His shoulders tremble, and he starts laughing in an insane manner. “Kukukuku! I was too nice. I am always too nice. That's my flaw. Every time I start being nice, someone close to me gets hurt. I should have massacred the whole bunch the first chance I got. No more!”

“Angrod?” Don't tell me he has lost it? That expression feels like... I have seen it already... the day when I died. “Angrod! Don't do something stupid!”

He ignores me. “...but I can correct that. Yes, I should have killed those children and thrown their beating hearts into that bastard's face without a single warning. No more Mr. Nice Guy!”

His tablet's screen turns red, illuminating his grinning face in an ominous manner. He brings down his finger on the screen, right before I snatch it out of his hands.

Too late.

The tablet gives off a shrieking warning.

I wince. “Angrod! What did you do?” Looking at the large screen on the wall, I notice that it was replaced by a map of the central continent. Shocked, I can only watch as a cloud of red dots appears above the mountain where Angrod's base is located.

“I just corrected my mistake and did a little house cleaning!” Angrod replies, his expression darkening as he watches the cloud of red dots spreading out. They move northwards at a moderate speed, constantly fanning out and gaining speed.

Sighing, Angrod pulls a chair close and sits down to watch the screen with a serene expression.

“Angrod, you better explain yourself if you just did something of military relevance. I have to coordinate the army alone until the line of command is re-established. And in a few minutes I have a meeting with the highest generals to discuss the situation!” Arthur reprimands the prince, snapping him out of his tamper tantrum.

Angrod explains in a moody voice, “If you can wait fifteen minutes, the last rocket should have hit its target. I just launched all the long range weaponry my lab managed to produce in the last month. The targets are enemy command centres, the mansions of northern nobles, the enemy army, strong energy signatures...” His voice trails off. “Just wait until we know what actually gets destroyed. Making any plans before the rockets hit is a waste of time at this point.”

“What if some of those targets are innocent?” I don't recognize this version of Angrod any more. Or should I say I recognize him again? He reverted to the person who I fought a long time ago. Someone who would kill everyone who opposes him or his ideas. “Some of those rockets are targeting towns with people in them!”

“None of them are innocent. They all have guilt. Those without guilt died in the first night of the rebellion.” Angrod's expression turns angry when he looks at me. “You either do something, or you do nothing. I don't feel any pity for those who don't have the courage to stop those who commit atrocities! 'It wasn't me,' is no excuse!”

Averting his eyes, he watches the screen with an angry expression.

I bite the inside of my cheek as the first red dots become flashes of light, marking off red circles as eliminated targets. Some are larger, some are smaller... though... if something can be seen on a continental scale, those explosions shouldn't be small at all.

I don't know what to do. I don't want this, but we haven't started it, and this is past the point of a peaceful resolution.

I hand Angrod his tablet back, which he takes with a nod. Kneeling down next to him, I hug the stupid hermit. He has a dark side and I have to accept that. I guess that, in the end, we would have been forced to use strategic strikes anyway.

We silently watch the red dots spreading out all over the north. Minutes pass as flowers of death bloom on the northern part of the continent.

“Those exploded too early,” Angrod notices a few minutes later. “The missiles which I launched at the City of Light didn't reach their destination.” He gets up and I let go of him.

“Do they have some kind of defence? Try dropping one of your drones into the city,” Arthur suggests. “During the war, we experimented with shield spells to protect our cities. They suffered from energy problems, but I guess that's no issue if you are willing to sacrifice your own citizens.” He shakes his head. “We abandoned the idea.”

I would hope so. Killing your own people to protect them seems counterproductive.

Angrod works on his computer and two drones change course. A live-feed shows us their nosedive down into the city in two separate windows. One drone follows the other to observe the first one's fate. A few hundred meters above the city, the leading drone – an aerodynamic cylinder with long wings for gliding – disintegrates as it impacts some form of shield.

Seconds later, the following drone is lost too.

“They really managed to cast a shield spell of that size? Keeping such a spell running would need exorbitant amounts of mana, but I guess they don't care about that,” Arthur grumbles.

“They wouldn't need so many people just for a stupid shield spell. They ransacked at least three cities,” Angrod points out. “They have much more than they need, even if they used thousands just for the shield.”

“Can you enlarge that area!” Katrine points out something like a mining zone.

The area in question is outside the city, so I am not surprised that Angrod didn’t pay it much attention in his first overview of the drone-footage.

Angrod does something on his tablet and one of his drones changes course to get a better look. One minute later, the map updates with more detailed information.

“Ugh! Are those mass graves?” I ask shocked. I want to throw up.

Angrod returns his observation to the city, but everything looks normal. He gestures at a large building which is shaped like a hemisphere. “This one looks new, and it’s the only space large enough for a ritual circle of the necessary scale.”

The image switches colours, as the drone circles through some instruments until something very similar to an infra-red vision shows up. Though, I notice the difference, recognizing that the image filters for mana. In the new view, despite the interference from the city’s shield, the whole building is radiating power. Through the walls, a large summoning circle is clearly visible.

“I guess, they really are trying to summon a god,” Angrod concludes in a grim voice.