Refreshed and solemn, Lapis and Hiiro stood side by side as mana condensed around them.

"God speed, Lapis."

"Mmm. Kill them all. Petri, send us off."

The two figures blurred, one reappearing in the depths of Naoki and the other within the depths of Kanthu.

Hiiro stepped from the node straight into combat as a series of Elementals closed in on the node, eviscerating whatever beast that engaged them. He took a moment to spin up his analytics magic and temper the mana he collected prior.

Approaching him were a series of molten orbs trailed by viscous water like masses. Though each similar Elemental appeared a subtle shade different from the other, none resembled the deep crimson he watched Lapis fight against.

Hiiro theorized the strength of the Elemental related to the purity of its standard element color. After witnessing Lapis utilize ice and frost effectively against the molten slime, he was pretty sure the cliche'd trope of opposing elements dealing critical damage held true.

Focusing his mind, Hiiro siphoned the energy from the edge of his obsidian blade. Unable to reach Lapis' degree of performance, he was forced to deposit that siphoned energy to the extreme edge on the opposite side of the sword.

He felt the sword vibrate as micro-fractures degraded the sword's integrity. Infusing more mana into his sword, Hiiro invoked a reinforcement magic similar to body reinforcement, though it only delayed the damage.

Without time to recreate the sword, he held a wry smile while realizing the potential of the dual element sword after driving its frosted edge through a molten slime and reversing the swing to cut through the water elemental with the molten edge.

Six slashes later, his sword finally shatter, its obsidian pellets revealing the plethora of fine spiderweb like fractures throughout the structure. Hiiro withdrew from the fight allowing Petri to cover him while he recreated the sword.

As Lapis taught him, he adjusted the creation process while invoking. He perverted the crystalline structure of the obsidian with a focus on insulation. Crystallization occurred as the new sword emerged from the ground, its core still black yet trim along its razor edged with transparency.

Hiiro siphoned the energy once more, drawing it to a single edge. Ice crusted and flaked from one edge while white hot trim emitted heat waves on the other. A satisfied smile embedded itself on his face as he raced back into battle.

Lapis closed a projection showing Hiiro charging into battle with a proud smile. Her attention adjusted to the battalions defending the remnants of Naoki in the distance, strategizing the best way to break their defenses without directly assaulting them.

As far as she could tell, Petri would eventually win, however it would be a pyrrhic victory at best and Naoki would likely be wiped out long before they could be chased out. She watched the battalions, their composition, each squads tactics and started issuing orders to Petri to poke and prod certain areas of the defensive line.

Trained, well coordinated, men are difficult to raise in large numbers yet as she watched the teamwork of the beastmen, she found herself confronting exactly that. Each assault Petri launched resulted in the battalion collapsing around the bulk after luring it in. Their coordination was impeccable.

Kneading mana and placing her hand to the ground, Lapis injected every iota of what she generated into the ground while idealizing a series of tunnels. She felt the ground sag below her as the tunnel grew to a greater diameter.

Controlling the magic with fine detail, she waited until it reached her requirement before launching the magic at the battlefield. The tunneling magic remained aggressively silent, not even a vibration to warn the innocent leaked from its progression.

Within her mind, Lapis tracked and adjusted the tunnel path, circling around the battalion and even extending the shaft to within the new city's walls. Her preparations almost complete, Lapis turned her attention to Petri.

"Send some of your pets into the tunnels. Once you reach the city, collapse the tunnels and invade the city while pressuring the battalions."

A warm feedback and sudden change in the beasts movements proved Petri's acknowledgment. Like ants to a hole, Lapis drew her attention from the swarming beasts running through the tunnel entrance she made to look back at the general front line.

Using her residue mana still within the tunnels, she was able to track the progress of the beasts infill. After reaching critical points, Lapis saw a rather impressive collection of beasts crest the top of a remote hill.

The battalion reacted as it should, adjusting their squad distribution to lure the beasts in and eventually collapse in on them, however sudden screams and alarms registered from the city.

Lapis observed the response of the enemy commander and found him splitting a portion of the troops off to deal with the inner invasion, but still had the bulk of the battalion continue their strategic collapse on the beast hoard.

A calm, clear minded response to an emergency.

'Petri. This will take a while.', she grinned a toothy grin.

Who said Lapis couldn't appreciate an intelligent enemy? She continued to watch as the ground beneath the battalion collapsed, taking the beasts and beastmen down with it.

Though effective compared to prior tactics, the enemy commander reacted beyond her expectations and salvaged the situation, their losses far below what Lapis expected. Though, there 'were' losses.

Her tactics appeared to deal damage to the well trained troops meaning the potential to win the war was there. She need only continue to blindside their force frequently to drive their moral down with greater fatalities.

As Lapis bunkered in for a drawn fight using gorilla tactics, Hiiro was finally managing to push into Kanthu with Petri as well. Similar to Lapis' situation, it wasn't that Petri lacked the required number of forces, he noticed that the generated beasts for Kanthu were just far too under equipped to deal any lasting damage.

As he found different Elementals, he requested Petri to record and analyze his combat with greater detail. As the artificial intelligence had hundreds of samples against a multitude of elemental types now, the beasts emerging from the nodes started to show traits of the elements within them.

The greater power behind the strikes enabled Hiiro to fight less often with riffraff and instead focus his efforts on more potent Elementals. Though he had yet to encounter one as powerful as Crim, he came across a few that gave him a run for his money.

A month blew by with the two applying pressure to both areas with satisfying results. Kanthu had lost about a tenth of its land to Petri and Hiiro, however it was clear Petri was starting to overwhelm the Elementals and didn't require Hiiro's help as often.

On Lapis' side, the effects of demoralization began to show. While Hiiro was improving Petri's generation and combat abilities against the Elementals, Lapis was providing education in tactics.

A month of scare tactics, surprise assaults, feints, hard hits, terrain collapses and more resulted in Naoki's army becoming exhausted. The surprise attacks at any hour of the night prevented any restful sleep.

The hard hits and surprise assaults tore away at their moral and numbers in tandem. The feints left their nerves taunt and relaxation became a thing of the past.

Perhaps, worst of all, citizens of Naoki no longer trusted their own homeland as it collapsed daily, sometimes hourly beneath them. Buildings constructed only a day or two ago were ripped apart within seconds.

Though Lapis had yet to find the commander's post, she knew that even if the beastman could hold out as a trained unit, the same couldn't be said for citizens they protect. Every collapsed building was a failure on the military and as the months passed, the taunt nerves finally broke.

Lapis watched from her vantage as a trail of wagons and animals exited from the opposite of the city. She calculated their direction and became alittle giddy. She hadn't seen Hiiro in almost two months now, yet as the caravan appeared to head for Klasika, she would have the ability to meet up with Hiiro in Kanthu as the train passed through.

She dusted the loose sand from her outfit and followed behind the caravan, applying pressure still, however in a less direct fashion. Perhaps her eagerness was the travelers bane as she ensured the beasts were always nipped at their tail to keep them moving as fast as a caravan could reasonably move.

It took another month of hunting, however Lapis eventually entered the depths of Kanthu while chasing the train. The caravan had lost nearly a fifth of its members, however Lapis dialed down the assaults after the group exited the official Naoki territory boundary.

"Petri, take control and keep them moving. No need to press them too hard unless they turn around and try to return. Also, lead me to Hiiro."

A beast appeared beside her glowing a deep azure and emanating a hefty frost to its surroundings. As she hadn't kept up with the progress of Hiiro or Petri in Kanthu, she was rather surprised to see the beasts undergo such a dramatic change.

She was pretty sure Petri shouldn't be capable of that... Her suspicions directed straight at Hiiro and another desire to see him bloomed within her. The beasts glanced up at her and with her nod, took off along a deformed trail across the ground.

It didn't take her long before a series of tremors reached her. Her pace increased, however she invoked a stealth magic across her to shield her presence.

Three hills later, Lapis found her watching man versus jelly combat.

Hiiro wielded a weapon that was both dripping a liquid from its tip and clawing the air with miniature arcs of lightning. She halted her advance to watch him engage the earthen Elemental.

To her surprised, the Elemental was dispatched rather easily upon his strike, yet the water like Elemental caught in the same strike suffered little damage. Hirro reversed his swing bringing the lightning edges against the Elemental and soon, the fight was over with only a puddle and pile of rubble remaining.

Lapis clapped her hands softly after seeing the wonderful display of affinities. Her form flickered from its place emerging behind Hiiro. An impish desire assaulted her and she leaped against his back tackling him to the ground.

"You have let your guard down!", she giggled against his back side.

Hiiro pushed himself from the ground and rolled over onto his back. Lapis saw his degree of exhaustion now that she was closer and suddenly felt guilty about her tackle.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine. Was just a little over eager to apply what I learned from ya. Now...Now it kinda hurts to move.", he forced out through gasps of air.

"I watched your fight. It was an impressive demonstration of contradicting affinities."

"You taught me that. I've only managed to properly use it in the last week or two. How's Naoki?"

"Excluding what stragglers remain, Naoki has immigrated through Kanthu. I do believe they will arrive in Klasika by the end of this month."

"Damn, you beat me then... Kanthu's been a bit difficult."

Lapis felt herself amused for no reason at his struggles and helped herself back to her feet, pulling Hiiro up along side her.

"I will help you, let us continue. Our goal is nearly within reach."

"Lead the way, my Empress."

"What a flirt."

The pair pushed into the depths of Kanthu albeit slower than one would expect as Lapis allowed Hiiro to use the land as a training ground. Taking the role as an observer and teacher, Lapis trained her analytics magic to focus on Hiiro.

Each fight allowed her to provide tips towards Hiiro's fighting style, correcting his mistakes improving the foundations he discovered himself.

As the flames of annihilation encroached Kanthu, a researcher in Sacramentum requested an audience with his Lord. His pacing gait a clear indicator of his excitement.

As his team was researching how to trace the subspace mana channels, he and his Lord were rather familiar with one another. Their weekly updates served to keep the team focused and their Lord privy on whatever issues they encountered.

"Announcing Lord Arakis Nul Dieth!"

The researcher took a knee in perfect obeisance until his Lord was seated and addressed him.

"Rise. Has something interfered with your work?"

"No my Lord. Rather it's the exact opposite! We've managed to use the microsecond delays between the signal changes as a triangulation method. By measuring the time difference between the various attractive antenna-"

"Skip the details. Is it ready for use?"

"Sorry about that, my Lord but yes! Yes, it certainly is! You can take it whenever you're ready!"

The researcher pulled a small gray box, no larger than his palm nor taller, from his pocket. He applied pressure to two smaller buttons along the edge snapping the top in half.

Within the new opening, three antenna popped from the internals of the box and seconds later, two of the antenna glowed at varying intensities.

"My Lord, as you can see, there are 3 antenna. The source of the mana channels is in the averaged brightness between any two antenna. For example, right now... It's coming from that direction.", the man pointed to the direction of Profectus, his figure turning with the device to prove the antennas average out to the same direction.

Arakis' figure flickered to the man and took the device into his hand, examining it with a satisfied countenance. He looked towards Profectus and his smile grew ever deeper.

"Go back to your team and celebrate. This Lord will go collect his Queen.", his voice sounded while he faded into darkness.

Left behind empty in the Throne room, the researcher gaped at the sudden absconding of his team's efforts. Upon further thought though, he chose to follow through with his Lord's order. It's not often his Lord obtains a Queen, after all.

For the next few days, Arakis flickered through the Relictus, his form momentarily appearing and disappearing as he made minor adjustments to his path based off the tracker, Lapis and Hiiro were on their final push in Kanthu.

Levitating steady above a puddle of clear water, the pair of crusaders observed quite possibly the largest and purest Elemental to date. As far as Lapis could tell, it was also one of the last one's with the capability to fight back.

As she understood things, the younger Elementals evacuating the area would be helpless against even the weakest of creatures, their older brethren already eliminated by Petri's machination or Hiiro's sword.

The sphere of water distorted as a ripple spread across it. Holding her hand up to halt Hiiro, Lapis furrowed her brows at it. She couldn't understand how or what it was saying, however she felt it was attempting to communicate and inexplicably, she felt a strong aversion to destroying it.

"If you have something to say, take up the appropriate form."

Water condensed into itself, filling an unknown void as the sphere warped and miniaturized. Its exterior underwent a transfiguration, the light refracting through it becoming inhibited as it became opaque via obscure methods.

A light whistle escaped Hiiro as the form finally took shape. In the place of what could have represented hundreds of tonnes of purified water stood an avatar of a young girl no older than ten years old. Her eyes azure, her hair a deep black, her skin white yet tinged in blue.

The pressure emitted from the girl belied her appearance. Unimpressed, Lapis approached.

"I am not predisposed to maudlinism. Is this not unbecoming of a primary Elemental?"

The girl shaped her lips as if to test the new orifice. Babbled sounds and incoherent speech flowed until it became smooth and intelligible.

"This world does not belong to you. This world does not need you. Return to your world."

"If I could do such a thing, I would have long ago. I was delivered here, a victim of circumstance as one could interpret from a particular perspective. Is that all you have to say?"

Silence resounded as the girl only stared at Lapis. Though the area was silent, Lapis could feel wavelets of mana rush past her. She allowed the esoteric communications to continue until the wavelets collapsed bringing a focused gaze back to the girl.

"You and your kin's genocidal crusade has left only me and these children. What will it take for you to leave us Elementals in peace?"

"If you and your kin are willing to recluse for two decades, then we will withdraw."

"We will disappear."

Her voice echoed and her form melted, its overflowing volume washing over the surrounding elementals. Lapis watched as each elemental was drawn into some pocket type dimension within the ample liquid.

Interestingly, she noticed that even the molten Elementals were treated the same implying the degree of control and power the water Elemental held.

Lapis turned from the being, returning to Hiiro's side.

"I'm surprised you just let it go after they sent that guy to attack you."

"Attack me? You misunderstand, Hiiro. That Elemental was there to retrieve me. I suspect it would have brought me back and forced my return. As stated earlier though, I have neither designs nor magics that are capable of delivering anyone or anything back to the old world. Even if I held such a powerful magic, I would never use it. Marie detached us from that world's time and dropped us into this one. As far as I can tell, enough time may have passed such that our old world has already deteriorated into nothing. Such tedious thoughts are a waste of time, we exist here and now. We will from now on as well."

His shoulders shrugged once, accepting the position as is. Just as he was to continue his train of thought, Hiiro found the beasts surrounding them some what strange. As if reading his thoughts, Lapis noticed the lack of awareness around them as well.

Her disposition altered after she appeared to attempt something. The failure of said task wanned her complexion drawing Hiiro's concern.

"What happened?"

"Petri is under assault. We need to return."

Releasing whatever limits that held her abilities in check, mana gushed from her into the surroundings transforming the air into a murky substance. Before he could respond, he felt a jarring sensation, his consciousness just capable of remaining intact.

He felt the surroundings change and after shaking his head once, he found his senses overwhelmed with familiarity. Despite his senses clearing up, the ground below him jolted, its convulsing form apparent. He fell to his knees taking in the surroundings.

The ground shuddered once more followed by a more powerful judder which threw him to his back. His gaze at the sky, that familiar form of Lapis in her original form engaging in combat with another humanoid manifested.

Hiiro collected himself and rose from the ground prepared to assist when he received a holographic message from Lapis.

"Petri was taken offline. I need you you take over until it recovers. Take down Gilphryia as soon as possible while I manage this brute."

The obvious distrust in his ability to help her in combat trickled through the letter, however Hiiro knew the power that warped the terrain was beyond his ability to contest. Clutching his fists in frustration, Hiiro's visage fulgurated as he reached top speed within a mere second.

Lapis caught Hiiro's disappearance from the corner of her awareness and felt the budding worry dissipate. She was all too familiar with his combat potential and while he could compete against the majority of this world, the man fixed in space before her could be described at best as an anomaly.

The moment the long distance teleport completed, she engaged the man with a full powered strike to drive him back. Her initial assault held enough power to crumple the ground beneath her and shatter what protective measures Petri took to defend against the man's assault.

Despite receiving such a potent blast of pure mana, the man appeared unaffected. His physiognomy unfettered and his demeanor screaming telltale signs of expectation ingrained a degree of caution within Lapis.

"My Queen, your Lord has come to pick you up. It's time you stopped playing this game of yours."

Serpentine eyes tracked her with exceptional fidelity. Her movements were shadowed by his gaze and as she closed the interspace the two collided once again. Brute force followed her fist, not a hint of intelligence or strategy backing it up.

The two remained fixed with Arakis halting her fist at contact and Lapis generating internal calculations on her enemy. Regardless of the chatterbox engaging her, Lapis felt no inclination to return the gesture.

Rather, she flickered from close range returning to the ground. Her analytics magic was working miracles behind the scenes as it measured every spike of mana, newton of force, or facial expression of the Kingly man.

"Have you nothing to say to me? This Lord came all the way to pick you up himself. Few Queens earn such a privilege."

He raised a palm and with it the earth shuddered. Mana drenched the atmosphere, its weight alone depressing the ground. The mana coalesced above his palm taking the solid form of handcuffs.

Not one to be bested, nor one to cower under such an obvious threat. Lapis slipped a toothy grin and kicked off the various magics she'd been preparing.To his surprise, Arakis found the dense mana he generated being pulled from his control.

He fixed his calm visage yet remained somewhat shocked inside as he was unable to deduce where the mana was disappeared to. As expected, the woman staring at him from the ground with eyes that could kill was indeed qualified to be his Queen.

Arakis chose to forgo talks as his Queen appeared unconvinced and instead chose the path of brute force. She rejected the civil engagement in favor of the more crude touch.

The two moved as if triggered by some grand bell, their figured colliding mid air with a crystalline staff of Lapis' meeting a reinforced fist of Arakis. The shunted energy of the impact drove cavitation vacuums into their surroundings, the resulting rebounds driving pressure waves potent enough to peel the topsoil and vegetation from the distant ground.

Unable to withstand the strike, Lapis' staff shattered and her form shot through the atmosphere, slamming into the ground and gouging a trail behind her. Though not as elegant as she would have wished, Lapis managed to remain standing even on impact with the ground.

The staff was designed to be weak as she utilized the kinetic energy of the strike to distance their fight from Petri and Hiiro to great success. What was rather unfortunate though was her direction of retreat aligned with Profectus' heading.

Such concerns were at the back of her mind as of now though. She was clearly lacking a decisive means to strike the man before her. Lost in that momentary daze of thought, Arakis landed before her with his fist launched into her gut.

Her body bent with unnatural speeds dodging the strike. Her dodge left her unprotected, yet Arakis retreated as he felt the inklings of magic invocation. Not a moment later, he found his surroundings under a dramatic pressure boost as if an ocean were bearing down upon him.

Sunlight refracted at strange angles as the atmosphere became exponentially dense and with it, beams of light merged and swiveled under the control of a foreign force to land on Arakis. The beams focused on his body, boiling the surrounding air into a turbulent cage.

Though she never expected it to deal any lasting damage, the potent streak of mana that sliced through the viscous prison proved how dramatically she underestimated Arakis. The mana slash tore through the enclosure and released the binding pressure that was compacting the atmosphere sending it pouring back into the world with a destructive vigor.

Lapis chased the tidal wave of air flooding the near terrain increasing the interspace between her and Hiiro. The distance created bought her seconds of time and kilometers of distance, yet she found herself dodging an empowered strike moments after her effort.

The ground below her rippled outward and turned concave as if a mountain sized cannon fell upon it. Sweat drew from her furrowed brow as her body rotated and delivered an exceptional kick to the Demon's rib cage. As if hitting steel, her body recoiled and was launched further away once more.

Light flickered across Lapis' eyes as she summarized her position. Inbound to her, a pair of incredulous chains appeared with momentous fanfare only millimeters from her. Unable to dodge the glittering shackles, Lapis found her wrists caged and her mana control turn sluggish.

Her form staggered and the deep azure of her eyes faded to a glossy sky blue. Space twisted before her and from that disruption, she found the man with serpentine eyes observing her with fascination.

"Have you had your fun yet? This Lord can play all day, however our wedding puts us on a limited time line."

"You can not believe I will marry you."

"Why not? If you don't want to, this Lord can fix that."

His palm reached for her head mid sentence as if it were his original goal. The greed and desire in his eyes reflected in hers and yet, his hand held its position just before her. Slight confusion expressed on his face before surprise overtook it.

A moment later, his form blurred from its position as space itself was torn asunder. Mana poured from Lapis as she restored her stance and released a deep exhale. Her eyes crystallized with an azure rivaling the depths of the sea and with it, the landscape itself metamorphosed.

Like an infection, the soil and all organic material surrounding her converted to an azure crystalline substance, spreading with the mana fog pouring from her body. The chains attached to her wrists showed the slightest resistance before shattering.

As his body reappeared kilometers in the sky, Arakis gazed at the phenomena inflicting Lapis' surroundings. She rubbed her wrists a few times before returning that observant gaze. Her face cracked a smile and with it, the ground exploded.

Arakis found that heaven and earth inverted. Unable to properly align himself with the world, he found the space around him distorted and with it, every sense that reported gravity went haywire. The man himself felt queasy at the spacial attack.

Unnerved for the first time, Arakis compelled the space around him into stability after dumping copious amounts of mana into the surroundings. He invoked multiple magics, each dedicated at analytics to help restore his condition, yet he found everything reporting normal.

His gaze darkened and with it, he invoked another simpler magic which shattered the surrounding world. Like fog being pushed by a prevailing wind, his mind cleared and with it, each of his senses. He found himself still in the air staring down at the woman, yet he no longer underestimated her as he once did.

That mental attack was a clear provocation and with his senses dulled, he knew the woman allowed him time to break free from it. Who knows how long it actually took him as the surroundings for kilometers were a crystalline bed.

"Welcome back to reality, Lord Dieth. I imagine you enjoyed the trip?", Lapis taunted the man with an obvious smirk.

"This Lord has underestimated his Queen. It appears this Lord can't obtain you without injury.", he responded with clear solemnity.

"Lord Dieth, might I take a moment to show you something first? It would be towards your benefit, I promise."

Lapis waved her hand with flourish. Crystals surrounding her dissipated like chunks of mist blown by the wind and condensed into a smooth panel before her. Out of curiosity, Arakis watch the magic construct itself without concern, though after it completed Lapis didn't fail to miss the twitch in his eye.

"It is an interesting scene, is it not Lord Dieth? If you chose to remain here, I reckon you will have ten minutes or so before your precious city is reduced to rubble."

Lapis' eyes crested like two moons as she flashed a brilliant smile. Beside her, projected into the panel, was the current state of Sacramentum. The city's shield glowed near pure white under the strain of beast attacks.

It was clear that Sacramentum Generals were out in full force, yet it only appeared to maintain the status quo. Arakis adjusted his sight between the nefarious woman and his precious city a few times while making internal calculations. He found his estimates to match Lapis' to his displeasure.

As if to catch that finality, Lapis continued.

"Retreat now. We may settle our debt in the future, however I will take Relictus as my own. It is clear at this stage you care nothing for it. My Petri was able to crawl Relictus without resistance until he neared Sacramentum. Might I know your thoughts."

Though she questioned him, Lapis remained alert to the dangerous creature. Her pretense paid off as the man blurred into view less than a meter from her in mid swing. Her torso bent backwards to dodge the strike allowing it to shatter the crystal panel as she flipped back to gain distance.

Apparently angered, Arakis remained fixed on her figure and chased without word. Each step of his fractured the crystalline ground and each attack gouged what terrain was unlucky enough to be in the line of fire.

Not only dodging, Lapis invoked magic after magic with staffs erupting from the ground. Every attack she dodged resulted in a pole being torn from the ground and shattered against the Demon's body. The two exchanged blows, each hit imbued with greater power than the last.

Lapis counted the time in her head as the fight progressed while also measuring the man in detail. Little information was available on him in general and so she took this fight to test whatever capability she could draw from him while also probing the Demon's psyche.

Arakis found himself enjoying the fight. Each of his strikes landed on air despite his efforts and as he pushed harder, he found himself desiring the woman even more. As that feeling overtook him, he inundated his strike with mana while invoking an instinctual magic.

It was consumed instantly and with it, a magic circle exploded from his fist. Lapis furrowed her brows at the magic circle. Her analytics magic threw warnings at her over the thing. Unable to take any evasive action, Lapis fought back directly.

As the man had done, Lapis invoked a magic supplied by a deluge of mana. Rather than focusing on scale, Lapis focused on precision. Multiple smaller magic circles rippled from her out stretched palm and as mana flowed through one, it was accelerated to the next.

As the first supply reached the last circle, a solid beam of mana afflicted space itself as it clawed through it towards Arakis. Not to be out done, Arakis detonated his magic. The earth shook, the sky receded and with it, a miniature sun expanded towards Lapis.

Unable to penetrate the blast itself, Lapis found herself on the defensive as her magic gouged a safe tunnel through the blast. She kept her awareness open and found the explosive strike reached Profectus in the distance. Though she couldn't see the damage directly, she knew it couldn't have been light.

As Lapis took on Arakis, Hiiro remained busy with a freshly repaired Petri. The poor thing restored its control functions long before its body or the control room itself leaving the place a disaster zone.

Despite the terrible workspace, the two kept their attention fixated on each of the floating holograms around them. In particular, Hiiro remained focused on a scene showing Gilphriya.

As requested of him, Hiiro was efficiently destroying the country. He erased the elves from the border lands with quick commands to the nodes near each area. Following that, he hammered down on the government of Gilphriya, eventually isolated and killing off King and Queen Gilphriya.

In total, it took Hiiro only two hours to erase Gilphriya off continent. He was setting up the nodes to funnel the remnants of the elves into Klasika as planned and made sure they'd have pressure applied to them as they pass through what used to be Azmodius as well.

Hiiro's eyes darted to another screen that showed Lapis in combat. His fists clenched every time he saw the two exchange strikes. Internally, he measured each strike as if he was in place of Lapis and concluded himself lacking every time.

As he was about to assist Petri with Sacramentum, the hologram flickered from view and following that, the ground shook as if they were at the epicenter of an earthquake.

"Petri! Get me a visual on Lapis!"

He struggled to remain standing as bits of earth fell atop him. Petri responded with a dim glow as if it were struggling to deliver on the command. Unable to do much more than wait, Hiiro could only curse his powerlessness and wait for the situation to change.

The brilliant light surrounding her finally started to dim as Lapis wound down her magic in suit. She took a moment to eye the surroundings with a disturbed countenance. That magic was far beyond what she expected the man to be able to pump out.

She found herself standing upon an arcing cliff. Her magic refracted just enough of the blast to preserve the immediate terrain, yet did nothing for anything outside that zone. As far as she could tell, the land seemed to be scooped from the earth leaving a massive hold behind.

The newly created bowl held a reflective inner surface as if it were polished with a fine grit.

"How devastating...", she found herself mumbling at the sight.

"This Lord agrees. Such a shame this Lord was tricked though. My Queen, this Lord will relent this once to preserve Sacramentum."

Hovering in the distance, Arakis found himself responding to the woman while also observing the new landmark. Despite the word choice, Lapis found that Arakis held a dissatisfied expression as he spoke.

"This Lord is satisfied with your strength. After Sacramentum is preserved, this Lord will steal you away once more."

His voice faded out along with his figure as Lapis realized the time limit for Sacramentum was nearly upon them. Lapis remained alert, yet found the pressure symbolic to the man gone as well. She glanced back once at Profectus, which had plumes of smoke shunted from it in the distance, before striking the cliff with a foot and heading for Hiiro and Petri.

Upon arrival, she and Hiiro exchanged glances long enough for the two to communicate their initial worries and after that, their reassurances.

"It is time to move Hiiro. The ocean base should be functional at this stage, though it may be uncomfortable for a week or two more."

"Makes sense. Any idea how that guy found this place? We can't have this repeat again."

"I suspect he tracked Petri down through the behemoths. Nothing else should indicate Petri's location."

"That Elemental was able to find you as well though?"

"That was through a form of resonance with my mana. As Arakis found Petri and not me, the behemoths are the only true connection with this control center and thus are the primary suspects... We may need to adjust plans."

"No need for that. Once we reach the ocean base, just have Petri redirect all of its communications through random nodes before sending them direct to the behemoths. Petri's pretty smart, I'm sure it can space out what nodes it uses to keep the tracking mechanism disoriented."

"I like it. Let us do things that way then. How goes Sacramentum?"

"Even with Arakis there, I doubt they'll last very long. Now that most countries are broken apart, Petri was able to direct an impressive amount of beasts at them... Rather, it's a stupid amount. I kinda feel bad for them, really."

He chuckled while embracing Lapis from behind. The worries of his heart seemed to settle down with her back in his arms, though his fathomless gaze remained fixed on the screen showing Sacramentum.

As the two enjoyed each others company, Arakis managed to appear back within Sacramentum and wiped out all nearby beasts moments later, though he found dust plumes in the distance that signified the cleansing was temporary at best.

The man entered through a faded shield that held little to no grandeur compared to prior the attack. He found the city intact and still functional, though the mana consumed by the shield left a sense of absence from the air. Doing quick calculations, Arakis frowned as he understood the degree of damage dealt in his absence.

His castle remained pristine through the attack and as he returned to the dais, he called in his administration. The group appeared ragged as they were all either directly engaged in combat, coordinating teams or managing logistics throughout the entire assault.

"What's the current state of Sacramentum?"

Stepping forward, a man with horns and a multicolored robes started reading off a prepared summary.

"My Lord, the latest assault incurred 67 mortalities from the protectors. No civilian lives were lost, however the mana density of the city has plummeted to record lows. We suspect many residents will experience abnormal conditions such as headaches, stomachaches, light headed, exhaustion, and potentially more serious reactions depending on how reliant they were on the dense mana. Sacramentum's shield is... functional. However, if we don't replace the lost mana in a timely manner, it's possible the shield will dissolve within a week at the earliest, assuming there's no follow on assault."

"What of this Lord's Generals?"

"Yes, my Lord. General Zannon, General Larkis, General Elkune, and General Remies attempted to defend each cardinal point, however the number of beasts were simply overwhelming. They just weren't able to prevent being swarmed. They took the fight to the enemies in the distance to help buy time after your Lordship returned."

"Leave them out there. Those beasts are troublesome by numbers alone. What else?"

"Yes... My Lord, the new administration of Klasika sent a delegation team. They requested an audience with your Lordship."

"How did a pack of Humans make it into Sacramentum when it was being swarmed?"

"That is... This one is unsure. The beasts appeared to ignore the group as long as they continued moving towards Sacramentum. By the time they arrived, it appeared as if they had already lost half their members."

"Interesting, bring them before this Lord.."

The adviser obeyed and moments later, he returned leading a series of mixed race representatives. Human, Elf, Beastman, and Faery were all present as if presenting a unified front. Arakis looked with curiosity at the human leading the group, his eyes asking the young human what his purpose was.

"Demon Lord Arakis Nul Dieth, I am Prince George, representing the Unified Intelligence Front."

"Unified Intelligence Front? It's a wonder how your species can work fine together suddenly after a millennium of bickering and wars."

The young man appeared sympathetic to the Demon Lord's statement. He only accepted it and moved on.

"Such is the era we find ourselves in, Lord Arakis. We've come today to offer an alliance with the Demons."

"Alliance? Why would this Lord need such a thing when your group has hardly been able to fend off this Lord's advances?"

Pulled from a pouch at his side, Prince George revealed a small orb seated within an archaic contraption. He injected mana into it forcing a projection into the air that resembled Lapis' holograms. Arakis remained calm, however he was somewhat impressed at this "alliance's" capabilities.

His eyes drifted to the hologram and before he could catch himself, his posture changed dramatically.

"That's impossible. This Lord erased the transmission node earlier."

The young human kept his eyes on the reacting Demon Lord before responding in calm.

"Demon Lord Arakis, our alliance monitored what we could of your fight with the so called Empress Fardom to help gather information on her, however we also maintained our monitoring of what nodes we could that were spread around the country. After your initial strike, the nodes appeared to turn docile. Adventurers reported beasts collapsing on the spot and some behemoths even fossilized. Beyond doubt, your assault did 'something'."

He took a deep breath as the scene on the hologram repeated from the beginning once more.

"However... The moment you engaged in combat, Gilphriya came under heavy assault. The scene your seeing now was recorded by an adventurer group we tasked with studying a relatively weak node. They just happened to be in combat while you were. We only noticed the similarities after a group of our researchers watched both your fight and this footage."

Within the projected screen, a beast invoked a mana ring that detonated the surroundings. It consumed one adventurer leaving nothing behind and dismantled an arm and leg of another.Though the magic was faint through the recording, Arakis could sense with a potent degree of clarity that the magic resembled his own.

Prince George continued after allowing Arakis a moment to think.

"We've been documenting how the beasts grow in strength with time. Initially, we suspected it was a localized phenomena, however a group diving inside Folkvangr returned home for vacation. Out of boredom, the team entered one of the far weaker nodes around their area and found a beast utilizing combat techniques unique to their warrior's member."

He continued.

"Later, we found cases magic, skills, items, tactics and so on being appropriated and adapted to the beasts. Lord Arakis, after seeing this footage, you must understand the degree of threat represented by this. These beasts are a collective hive-mind capable of growing more powerful in general, over their entire populace. Without a united front, the future of this planet will belong to them."

Prince George intended to push further for their case, however a man trailing the group rushed to his side and whispered into his ear. Though Arakis missed the contents as he was distracted by his thoughts, the Prince's face told a vivid enough story. Prince George clenched his fists and reengaged the Demon Lord upon the throne.

"Demon Lord Arakis, we just received an emergency transmission from Klasika. The beasts started their assault on the main region. I ask for your cooperation in view of this modern threat and to forget or forgive if not place aside our history of war."

His emotions rode his face and voice yet the sympathetic environment was torn apart instantly by a series of rushing footsteps outside the dais. Arakis gestured to an adviser and upon return, the Demon was sweating profusely.

"My Lord, the beasts have reengaged Relictus! They're using an explosive magic at the perimeter of the shield. If this continues much longer, we won't be able to maintain the shield!"

"How did they get so close?", he asked while feeling the subtle tremors ripple through the castle.

"Somehow, they appeared through a tear in space!"

Arakis blanked out the moment he heard the method. Isn't that the exact same method he used to attack her base? What a vengeful Queen he's chasing. He felt another remote explosion tear through the ground and with it, he sensed the shield surrounding the city buckle somewhat.

"Hahahahah! Ah! My Queen! You truly never bore this Lord!"

Arakis took to his feet and moved beside the young Prince, his palm landing on the Prince's head.

"Young Prince, this Lord will cooperate. It appears this Lord's Queen is in favor of your deal. Imagine your homeland, we depart immediately."

Though surprised by the Demon Lord's actions, Prince George regained his calm and cooperated as well as he could. He imagined the verdant hills, clear lakes, and face of his lovely bride to be.

As Arakis took in those memories, he felt the buckling of the shield become more profound. Mana gushed from him like an endless spring washing through the dais and pouring into the castle. As it became saturated, the mana pushed open the doors and tumbled out windows, crawling along the ground until the city of Relictus was filled to the brim, and then it continued.

The once weakened shield solidified, rebounding the explosions back against the tide of beasts and buying time for the city.

"Issue orders to any Demons outside of Relictus borders to withdraw inside. They have 10 minutes before they're left behind."

Arakis commanded the guards and advisers surrounding him. Each took the order, rushing to a different communication mechanism to spread word as fast as possible. While they were dispersing, Arakis was designing and invoking a massive magic around them.

The magic casters on site couldn't tell what the magic was, but the scale of it drew beads of sweat from them. Five minutes was all it took for the city to withdraw into itself like a tortoise.

Advisers reported back after each major department accounted for those they were responsible for. It wasn't until nothing happened and Arakis remained silent that everyone realized the 10 minute time limit wasn't the time he alloted to them, but the minimal time needed for him to complete his magic.

The city was quiet and its citizens reserved. Explosions pelted the barrier perimeter, echoing the only sound through the land. The final five minutes felt like years, however upon reaching it, Arakis regained his normal visage.

"Prepare the floats, focus on stabilization first."

The advisers reacted to his words with surprise, yet rushed off to relay the order.

"It's about to be a bumpy ride, this Lord won't hold your hand."

Arakis raised his hand to the sky as if pushing at it. The structured magic circle realized itself, manifesting into reality and inscribing itself along the edge of the city border.

What mana pressurized into the city was consumed instantly to feed the monumental invocation. Prince George felt his surroundings waiver, as if space itself were liquefying. The same phenomena struck throughout the city and as time ticked forward, structures and people began distorting.

Prince George glanced down at his arm which seemed to bend in awkward directions, yet he felt no pain coming from it. His sense of balance remained firm, yet every other sensory input appeared flailing. Nausea overtook him and many other members, bringing them down to knees, however the feeling only lasted but a moment when a deafening crack ripped through the city.

Gusts whipped through Relictus streets and the ground shuddered. Demons near the edge of town found the scenery outside warping and shearing. The familiar desert they were use to smeared from existence and in its place, rolling white fields with endless depths extended as far as they could see.

The braver of the citizenry crawled to the edge of the city boundary to peer out. The man gasped in alarm for he found lush lands far below them. The malleable, rolling whites were now easily identified as clouds. The man expected a falling sensation to come over him, yet the city remained fixed in the air.

As the citizens of Relictus started coming to terms with their situation, Arakis started recovering his mana in the dais. He moved to his throne and relaxed into it while peering at the young Prince.

"Go tell your alliance that this Lord will cooperate, however this Lord will not be subservient. One week from now, this Lord will meet with your diplomats. Prepare the hall well."

"One week? Lord Arakis, it'll take us at least a month of travel just to return."

"Foolish child, this Lord has already arrived. You need only go down and discuss things... Take the representatives to their lands.", Arakis ordered his advisers.

The Demons assented and directed the Prince and his group out of the castle where a series of flying Demon mounts carried them to the ground.

Situated at their ocean base, Lapis and Hiiro observed Sacramentum teleport from Relictus. It took only a simple query for Petri to lock onto the float landmass hovering above Klasika's capitol. Hiiro rubbed Lapis' shoulders, a sense of calm overtaking him and her both.

Lapis waved her hand and the gesture pulled another hologram to their attention. Plagued with an ocean of flames, eroded ground, and destroyed buildings, Profectus showed its first signs of life as magic invocations started spreading through the town.

Aria supported Ruby as the two entered the main governmental building. The two were riddled with injuries, and yet Aria took control of the situation as soon as the final blast cleared out. Her orders were clear within the hour, rescue squads were deployed to help recover anyone unlucky enough to get buried beneath the failed buildings.

As numbers rolled in, Aria couldn't help but frown at the degree of devastation. From her estimates of property damage, missing reports, and terrain consumed by the blast, she could only conclude that over half of Profectus was razed to the ground.

She let the summarized reports fall from her hand to the ground and leaned back against a pillar. Beside her, Ruby remained asleep, her focus diverted to restoring her lost leg, something Aria was astonished to find was within her capabilities.

The reports continued to flow in reporting the state of affairs and as each matter was solved, a glint flashed across Aria's eyes. She ordered the materials previously stored away to be brought out. It was time to reconstruct Profectus from the ground up.

The venture lasted nearly a month and Profectus eventually started functioning once again. News about Sacramentum appearing above Klasika reached the city already as well as a notice about a general alliance meeting.

Demon Lord Arakis Nul Dieth had already met the upper echelons of Klasika and with it, initial terms were agreed upon between the two forces. In the last week of the month, a follow on meeting meant to establish a formal declaration between the two forces was held.

Within a large hall with a rounded table sat 13 council members representing New Klasika as well as 2 other seats allocated for the Demon Lord Arakis. Laying on the table before all members was a parchment with all established terms and conditions for an alliance.

The two groups were reviewing the document for the last time prior to signing when the air trembled. The shaken space alerted every member who froze in place as if waiting for a follow on event. It couldn't be said the members were familiar with the sensation, however the shock and awe that typically followed such events left an indelible impression.

Arakis chuckled under his breath as he felt the mana in the air stir. He stood from his seat and moved to the balcony of the alliance room. Other members of the alliance fallowed behind him as they understood what was about to happen and mere seconds later, the air stirred once more.

Behemoth orbs flickered to life once again, their bodies revitalized and lifted from the ground to stand erect. Each behemoth reached for the sky in its own way, their orbs emitting an ever brightening light.

Stitching together from strands of light in the sky, a massive projection of a particular Empress and Obsidian Knight took shape. Her Azure eyes sparkled and her crescent smile belied the reality she brought to the world.

As if observing the world, Empress Fardom seemed to gaze at the ground like one would when observing ants. Her dainty mouth opened.

"Congratulations on surviving the first year. You now have 4 years remaining."

Her image faded from view after leaving such a short message leaving the world feeling a bit empty. Arakis sneered at the fading image before he turned around and walked back to the table. Whipping the pen off its holder, he signed his name across the document, finalizing the alliance.

At the end of the signing, the world divided in two.

End of Book 1