***Midhold, Royal Embassy***

***Angrod***

Crap. Crap. Crap.

I stride from left to right in front of Celes's bedroom, waiting for the – hopefully – inevitable outcome of her labour. How long has she been in that room? Did giving birth always take that long? Why am I so nervous about it? Haven’t I already been in this situation numerous times? They told me that she went into labour... one? Two? Three hours ago?

I gnaw on my fingernail, unsure of what to do.

Shouldn't it be done already? What's taking her so long? Shouldn't it be easy to press a lump of meat out of your body? Maybe I should go and take a look? Hold her hand and tell her to press?

Nono. I have bad memories of this. And given her strength, I don't want to be anywhere near her when she is in pain. I can imagine her squeezing my hand to mush while bench-pressing our son out of her.

Better to stay out here and pretend that I just arrived once the door opens. There are some of the world's best healers at her side, no need for me.

Suddenly, the door is slammed open. “Found you!” Ireth glares at me, channelling all her motherly authority. “How can you hide out here while your wife is giving birth!?”

“I don't know what I could do to help. And I didn't really hide... I just arrived! In fact, I was about to come in.” Damn, who would have thought that any of them would actually leave Celes's side while she is in labour!

“Come! A husband should be at the side of his wife at a time like this.” She takes my hand and drags me into Celes's quarters where almost the whole family is waiting.

Through another door, I can see the actual bedroom. Inside, a healer is taking care of Celes while Katrine is holding her hand. “You have to press!”

No! Don't tell her that! She has to be very careful with those abdominal muscles, or she will squish out the baby as a fine paste!

Ireth shoves me forward, past Arthur and Rose, and into the bedroom where I have to sit down on a chair to the other side of Celes.

“Good to see you, husband. I thought you were hiding somewhere like you always did when it was time.” Celes gives me a forced smile. “It feels like you actually matured a lot since back then.”

Is she talking about our time as Johann and Sandra? “Me? Hiding from the birth of my child? Pah! Never!” I would never do something like that. What is she thinking of me... oh... I forgot... she has memories of that life... when we had three kids together. Damn, I am just too nervous about this.

“Then hold my hand!” She reaches out for me.

“Just try to be gentle.” I reluctantly give her my hand.

“Press now, my lady. I think it finally turned into the right position,” the healer calls out.

“Hnngh.” Celes strains, her expression showing utter exhaustion.

'Crack!' 'Crack!' 'Crack!'

I knew it! It hurts! That was my pinky, despite my enhanced bones! I am not the one who is supposed to suffer here! The multiverse knows exactly why getting children only hurts women! I am certain that there is some sort of higher power at work.

Despite the pain, I keep smiling and endure the torment with an iron will.

I don't know how long it took, but some time later my pain is rewarded with the sight of a baby in Celes's arms while the healer is trying to sort the bones in my right hand.

“Hmmm. This is a really complicated puzzle!” he murmurs to himself while using magic to shift the muscles, sinews, and bones around.

“Can you fix it or not!” I am getting nervous here.

“Not so hasty. Ah, I think I have it, that bone belongs into the other finger! No idea how it got over there, hahaha. HEAL!”

By all the gods, who employed this guy? Did Celes really have to suffer for three hours?

I take a look at the child while the healer is channelling the healing spell into my hand. The baby smiles when it notices my attention. “Hehe. You look like an old man with all those wrinkles, Casus.”

“He is not Casus! His name is Aengus of Tirna – to continue the tradition. A member of the royal line needs a strong name!” Ireth puffs out her cheeks at me. “I swear, you young folk, if we left the naming to you, everyone would run around with names like Ketchup or Stain.”

Ireth took the naming matter into her own hands when she noticed our ongoing argument about the child's name. Right before the birth, Celes and I were unable to make up our minds, so Ireth's intervention was kind of a lifesaver.

“Let me hold him.” I pull my squished hand out of the healer's grasp, deciding that it looks well enough. Then I take the child out of Celes's arms and smile at the wrinkleface. Pressing a thumb to his forehead, I search his mind and soul. Thankfully, all I find is the dim and weak flame of a newborn.

“What are you doing?” Celes’s expression turns concerned.

“Hahaha. Nothing. I just took a look at his soul. The last thing I would have needed is that Seria played another joke on us and gave us someone who remembered his past life. I would find it creepy to educate someone who is already an adult person.” They look at me with shocked expressions.

I apologize, Mom, Dad, you did exactly that and I know that it wasn’t easy.

“No problem. Really, he is just a normal child. Here, look.” I make a stupid face at the baby and he laughs. “Papa will have to teach you everything the good, old-fashioned way.”

All the family members let out a sigh of relief.

“I feared my grandson wouldn't be a normal child either.” Arthur hugs his wife. “It looks like at least our grandchildren will be normal.”

Hey! What's that supposed to mean!? “Was it really that bad with us?” I ask him.

“You have no idea how creepy it is when your baby-daughter suddenly explains to you that you made a mistake with the taxes,” Arthur answers, looking mirthful.

Celes sighs melodramatically, remembering the whole scene. “I think I was two. He forgot a whole city in the annual tally! I couldn't just ignore such a major mistake.”

I harrumph. At least I tried to pretend to be a normal child until I was five or six.

'Boom!'

Outside the window, the embassy's barriers flare to light and the room shakes.

'Boom!'

The palace shakes again, forcing me to take a wider stance. Crap, what's going on? Explosions? I take a look out of the window and can see a ball of light arching through the sky, coming down at the embassy.

A second before it impacts, it hits an invisible wall and disperses with a shock wave.

'Boom!'

The embassy shakes a third time, causing my son to cry.

I growl and walk closer to the window, trying to find out what's going on. Ever since I became king, I doubled up on the palace's passive defence systems. Nothing short of several nukes has even the slightest chance to take us by surprise. “Are those heavy artillery spells?”

The door opens and Drem enters the room. “Your Majesties! You have to evacuate! An army suddenly appeared in the city and started to deploy long-range weaponry. The embassy's shield won't stand up to that kind of abuse for very long.”

“How many?” I ask, counting three more of those artillery spells arching through the sky.

“At least ten thousand, my king! They must have set up a teleportation gate within the city and are marching in this direction. Our army is completely out of place. We can't stop them before they take the embassy down,” Drem replies with an urgent tone in his voice. “The city's civil enforcers aren't up to the task.”

“Leave the palace with everyone you can find and retreat to safety. I will teleport my family out of here and join you later,” I inform him.

Drem nods and runs out of the room, following my order without questions.

“I will go too. I need my generals.” Arthur turns to leave.

“Stop! Are they inside the palace?” I call out before he can leave.

“No? It's too late in the night. They are at their homes for sure, which leaves only a skeleton crew at the war-room. We didn't expect this at all,” Arthur admits.

I hand the baby over to Celes and heave her out of the bed in a princess carry.

“Then it's better if you leave together with us. It would be stupid for the brass to collect at a location which is under direct threat of enemy attacks. They clearly already have a strong foothold, so organize our forces from somewhere outside their reach. They can have the embassy. It's just a stupid building.”

Another explosion shakes the ground and a little dust comes down from the ceiling. It's time to get out of here!

I teleport Celes and the healer, just to immediately return. Next, are Ireth and Katrine. On my third trip, I take Rose and Arthur.

When I reappear for the third time to get Nicosar, I am in the air... falling!

“Stone Skin!” I experience a second of weightlessness right before a hard landing on the ground. “Ouf!”

Not wasting any time, I get back to my knees and see that everything is in ruins. Apparently, the shield was broken and the private part of the palace was targeted first! “Nicosar!”

No answer!

I turn in a circle, searching. Where is the cockroach!?

Finally, I find a hand poking out from beneath the rubble. A swipe of my hand and flexing my telekinetic muscles frees the geezer who is already half healed up, the mist is reforming his body.

Not hesitating, I grab him at the neck and teleport just a moment before another white ball of energy curves down on our position.

When I reappear, I unceremoniously drop Nicosar to the ground.

“Hey, I was almost a goner! Do you have no respect for your old grandfather!?”

I snort. “You survived a strategic-class spell. Don’t make me laugh.”

“Where are we?” I hear Arthur's irritated voice.

“It's dark, I can't see!” Ireth complains.

“Light!” I speak the command and the room is bathed in bright light. “You are in my private research lab. It's the safest place I could think of. And it’s a relatively secure teleport location. At this hour there should be nobody here.”

“Safe? Wouldn't they attack the vital installations first?” Arthur is shocked.

I run up to a console next to the entrance and hit the emergency button.

The face of a technician appears on the screen. “Your majesty! We already wanted to contact you, but the communication line into the city was cut off. A few people tried to gain access to the facility. The guards dealt with them. We didn't leave our posts because we feared to leave the installation understaffed.”

“Good work. Man the control room. Power up all systems. The City is under attack.” I cut the line before he can answer.

“I need to get to our military.” Arthur stops me, but I gently push him out of the way.

“If you can tell me where they are likely to gather, I'll teleport you there. Otherwise, you stay put.” My answer baffles him, so he puts up no further obstruction when I walk past him and out of the room.

The whole facility starts waking up around us as I guide everyone to the control room. Technicians and security staff runs past me along the hallway as I walk the relatively short distance.

We arrive after twenty meters and enter another room with a big door. Inside it are already a few workers at their consoles. A big screen fills the opposite side of the room.

Some of my men are controlling drones, while others are supervising my energy plant. On the screen is already a pretty good tactical map of the city with drones engaging targets of opportunity.

“How is the situation?” I ask one of the officers who is studying the big tactical display.

He leaves his position in the middle of the room, allowing me to take it. “It seems like they managed to teleport a big army right into the city's central park. Afterwards, they set up heavy air defence and artillery, which is really annoying for our drones. The royal embassy is being bombed to rubble and what little military we had stationed in the city is in no position to fight back. They knew exactly where they had to aim their first shots to do as much damage as possible. Casern, power- and communication-lines were taken out with the first volley,” the man explains.

“This looks bad,” Arthur comments from behind and I turn around to see that some of my family members followed me into the command room. Only Ireth, Nicosar, and the healer are missing. They probably stayed outside in order to not get in the way.

I turn to take a look at the screen where a big red dot is spreading out into smaller segments, covering my city. “Bastards... They sure have guts to do this on my son's birthday,” I comment with a grim expression on my face.

“They caught us with our pants down,” Arthur gripes with a salty tone in his voice.

I shrug. “Maybe. Every war causes losses. We should only count what is owed after the last shot is fired.” I hit a few buttons on the console next to me. “Power up the engines! Cut the power lines to the city and activate the secondary facility! Tonight we are going for a hunt!”

“B... But your majesty! Nothing is tested! And we haven't installed some of the engines yet!” A technician complains, fear showing in his face.

“I don't care! I over-dimensioned the whole thing anyway! They are wrecking my city! Either this thing flies tonight or it doesn't!” A big throne-like command chair lifts from the ground behind me and I sit down.

Everyone inside the room becomes hectic at my declaration.

“Engines are powering up!”

“Deploying the anti-gravity field!”

“Shields are active.”

“The mountain is still above us. We didn’t have time to clear all the rock!”

I only shake my head at the complaint. “Shields to full energy. Blow it up!”

Following my command, the officer in charge of the shields flips a switch, raising the output to the maximum. Everything shakes as tons of rock are repelled away from the outer hull, accompanied by a low rumbling sound.

“The rock is out of the way, sir.” The officer gives me a savage grin.

Those military people sure like it to blow up stuff.

“Take us up.” I raise my hand, indicating for the man in charge of the engines to do his job.

The floor bucks a little. “It seems we are stuck,” a technician informs us.

“Full energy to the engines! We are behind the schedule!” Do you want to tell me that a few rocks are stopping me from saving my city?

The floor bucks again and I can hear a screeching sound as our former research station rips itself free. “We are free! We are flying!” The workers and technicians start cheering upon seeing their work and effort finally bear fruit after so many months.

I press a button on my chair to get a better view of our surroundings on the big screen.

The screen splits into four segments with the upper right showing the previous tactical map. The other segments show various camera views, displaying the city's situation and our surroundings. Beneath us is the hollow shell of the mountain which once harboured my facility.

“Hrm. Since this isn't a research facility anymore. This shall now officially be called the Nomad Fortress Midpoint.”

A part of the mountain crumbles and caves in while I make my proclamation.

“Mwhaha! Behold! 5200 metres long. Six million tons of steel! Enough firepower to roast an average army within seconds! Loaded with tactical warheads, particle cannons, and plasma weapons. Three layers of independent shielding spells, each powered by its own fusion reactor! Onboard repair facilities and the latest drone-tech to go with it. Anti-Gravity propulsion and teleportation systems. Everything has at least three redundancy systems! You could blow two-thirds of this ship to hell and it would still keep coming at you!” I raise my fingers to the ceiling and let loose my best evil laugh.

Time to test my toy! “Head us towards the city and redirect the full energy output to the shield and weapon systems. Link to the drones in the air and give me a better overview.” I grin while the screen switches to a flying monster of a battleship. Rocks are still sliding off the sleek and dark arrow-shaped hull, the mountain beneath us nothing more than a discarded shell.

“Mwahahaha! My new toy looks cool! Time to test it on those fools!”

Magical runes and circles appear as the magi-tech starts drawing power. The reinforcing enchantments glow in blue and red on the hull. The whole thing looks like a huge space ship with weaponry facing every direction, but there are no visible engines.

“Arrival in five minutes!” an engineer shouts.

“Take us higher. I want a good angle to pound them into the ground. Make sure that our weapons have full coverage,” I order.

“No way!” Arthur proclaims with a shocked voice as he finally realizes what’s going on.

“You rebuilt one of those monstrosities on this world!? Are you insane?” Celes gapes at the screen while holding onto the baby. She clearly remembers the best weapon of my followers. They built dozens of flying fortresses back in the old days. They were the backbone of my army of mortals and the reason for why the war became as devastating as it did.

“No need to fear anything. Who do you think gave them the blueprints?” I smirk at her. “You will worship me soon enough once the City of Light's barriers fall.”

“We are under fire, sir! Deploying defence.” The technician from earlier draws my attention back to the large screen.

Seven balls of white light are heading in our direction. It's the same ones which turned the embassy to rubble. My home.

The fortress's point defence guns rotate and spit out seven sparks of energy. They are much smaller than their counterparts, but they are designed to interfere with any foreign spell matrix, therefore countering or dispelling any magical effects they come into contact with.

As soon as they intercept the artillery spells, they explode early, being reduced to nothing more than fireworks above the city. “It looks like they are trying to use their artillery to take us down? That's good.”

“I don't see what's good about it!” Arthur holds onto a nearby console while the bridge is shaken by the shock waves.

“If they are shooting at us, they aren't shooting at my city.” I smile at him. Then I look for Celes, making sure that everything is alright with the crying baby. She is still holding our son.

“Give me Aengus, he has some work to do!”

“Counter-attacking the enemy artillery!” one of my men updates us and seven lances of red energy stab down into the dark city beneath.

Cutting the city's energy resources might cause significant inconveniences for the citizens, but I have no doubts that our enemy also relied at least in part on the city's information infrastructure.

Now they are cut off in an otherwise dark city and on foreign territory which hopefully slows their advance.

Celes reluctantly gives me my screaming son and I hold him in front of me. “No need to cry. They blew your birthday, but we are going to punish them!”

Turning him around, I set him down on my lap and pull out a tablet from the side of my control chair. It's linked to the tactical display on the main-screen and shows a map of the city. “See? Look, nice red dots.”

I tap the tactical projection with my finger. “Activate the weapons and lock them onto the enemy units. I want fire-control at my station.”

“Done sir!” the man at the weapon's station is quick to follow the order, looking a little sad at having to give up his toys.

“See Aengus? Evil red dot! Touch!” I hold the small touch-screen in front of my son and demonstrate the basic idea by touching one of the smaller red dots with my finger.

A ray of energy lances down into the city and the red dot disappears from the screen. “See, Aengus? Funny, isn't it?”

Aengus stops screaming and eyes the tablet with interest. Due to his age, he is unable to display the same motor-control I did, so he unceremoniously pats the big red dot in the central park. Curious at the new toy, he covers the park completely with his tiny palm.

A ball of blue energy howls down to the city and wipes the park off the map, blowing windows out of nearby houses.

“That's my son! Taking out the enemy's command centre with his first strike! I thought I would let them struggle for a while, but Aengus already knows that it's best to lop off the enemy's head first!” I smile proudly and watch as a small mushroom cloud rises from the central park.

Then I notice that everyone is looking at us with pale faces.

“Hmpf.” I huff, waving my hand. “Fire at will. Just use precision strikes from now on.” I admit that having my son fire a spell that is equal to a small tactical nuke might be a little over the top.

Celes takes Aengus back from my lap. “Don't teach him murdering people that early! I don't know what to do if he copies that strange grin of yours.”

I decide to ignore the quip and watch the unfolding doom of my enemies. More rays of red energy strike down into the darkness, searching out confirmed enemy positions. There is nothing our opponents can do. As more information trickles in, it gets obvious that they only had six large spell-projectors which they used for their artillery spells.

After a minute of continuous firing, the red dots are all gone and everyone stares in awe at the hell which we unleashed on those backstabbers.

“A call from the city. It's Drem, your majesty,” one of the officers addresses me and gestures towards his console.

I flip a switch on my chair and Drem's face fills the screen. “I am at the edge of the city with a few troops and some big animals from the army. I hope that the end of the light-show means we won, sir?”

“Sure as hell we won! I will get Arthur and Nicosar down to you in a minute. How does the situation look from your end?” I only hope that this idiotic attack didn't do too much damage.

Drem snorts. “Disastrous. From what I heard, ten thousand of those terrorists rampaged with heavy weapons through the city. They shot at everything that moved! If they hadn't attacked only targets of high strategic value, we would be looking at horrible losses among the civilians. Luckily, they ignored any civil installations or areas with high population density.”

I nod. “I understand, we are on our way. Technician, please teleport Arthur to Drem's location. Arthur, we need your guys to take care of the city. I will teleport everyone down there as soon as it is safe again. And then we will go to the City of Light and tell them our opinion of their little summoning ritual!”

One of my men approaches Arthur. “Please follow me, your majesty. We will head directly to the teleportation array.”

“Then take the lead. We have no time to lose.” Arthur follows the technician.

I nod and turn to the guy at the engine control. “New course! North! We are going to the City of Light to crack an egg.”