Carefully, hesitantly, though with much less than the first time he’d done so, Leon slid Nestor’s soul ruby into the core of the new golem frame before him.

He was in a large room in his temporary palace back in Stormhollow, having commandeered the room to be used as Nestor’s workshop until the new palace could be built. Upon arriving back in the city, he and his people immediately went to work, arranging funerals for those that had fallen, giving Sar and his Tribe’s dead an honorable send-off, and calling for the Elder Council to meet once again.

Fortunately, many Elders had already heard some of what happened and had taken it upon themselves to return to the capital. Other elders had to take a bit longer, giving Leon and his people more time to get readjusted.

In Elise’s case, she was grateful for the time. She and Leon met with the elders as they arrived, giving them updates while also giving her more time to be introduced to them in smaller groups rather than all at once. Leon was grateful to find that all the elders and other high functionaries were unfailingly polite to Elise—much more so than they were to Cassandra, though Leon could understand why.

In addition to spending much time meeting the elders, Elise also quickly took over the household, to Leon’s great relief. Managing the hundreds of people that came and went and worked even in the temporary palace was a massive headache, but Elise took to such duties like a fish to water, freeing up some of the duties that Gaius had taken on—Gaius was continuing to act as Leon’s top secretary, so Leon was seriously considering just giving him the official position. He’d need people he could trust in such positions if he wanted to fill out a proper Royal government.

At the same time, Cassandra was busy establishing something of an embassy, with herself almost as the ambassador. She didn’t have any diplomats with her, but she often met with the elders along with Leon and Elise, doing her best to charm them and get on their good side. Leon fully supported her in this; if he wanted the truce with the Sacred Golden Empire to turn into a proper peace, then the sentiment in the Ten Tribes would have to change, and having the elders get to know an Imperial Princess better could only help.

Valeria monitored his retinue, though, in truth, she didn’t have all that much to do in that regard. Helen and Tikos mostly did their own thing, and Maia lounged around refusing to take on any kind of official duty. With Alix and Alcander busy healing and seeing to the expansion of the Tempest Knights, that left Valeria with Marcus, Anna, Anshu, Anzu, and Red to keep track of.

She wasn’t yet, but if she did ask Leon for other things to do—or if any of his people did, really—he would gladly give them some work. As they were, though, he was more than happy with them continuing to spend most of their days training for their rematch with the Sunlit Empire.

During these couple weeks while the Elder Council reassembled—those who could tear themselves away from their duties, anyway—Leon also made the formal introductions between Asger and the Ravens that were still in the capital and the researchers he’d brought from Heaven’s Eye. They’d taken to each other quite well, but he knew it would take them at least a couple of months to properly pool their knowledge before they could start to take proper advantage of it.

At the same time, though, Leon also made sure that Valentina and the other researchers had comm lotuses so that they could liaise with their colleagues back in Occulara. He truly desired for Heaven’s Eye and the Ten Tribes to gather together all they knew, he couldn’t imagine leaving for the Nexus without ensuring that they were all smoothly working together. And he was gratified to see that, as far as he could tell, the Ravens welcomed the researchers with open arms.

It seemed they didn’t care that the researchers were Imperial citizens working for Heaven’s Eye; in fact, Asger’s first question to Valentina wasn’t something personal, but rather a request for an explanation of an esoteric detail about the blood magic related to the transformation enchantment. Leon tried to pay attention, but the discussion that followed was so high level that he almost felt like they were speaking a completely different language.

After that discussion, though, Asger immediately abandoned Valentina and the researchers to the tender mercies of the other Ravens in favor of assisting Leon in constructing Nestor a new golem body. Leon was quite thankful for the help as it undoubtedly cut days off the build time. During the forging and assembly process, however, Asger largely ignored Leon in favor of chattering away with Nestor, and much like with Valentina, Leon only partially understood what they discussed.

If anything, it hammered home just how far he was from being an expert even in the fields that he was most interested and skilled in. Even though Leon thought he’d done as perfect a job as he possibly could have in the forging, enchantment, and assembly of Nestor’s new golem body, Asger had quickly identified a few places that needed improvements. Even Nestor was impressed, especially since Leon had been working using a design that the dead man had made himself.

As the ruby slid home, Leon sealed the golem’s chest and waited as Nestor interfaced with the internal enchantments. Asger waited next to him, staring at the golem so intently that Leon was almost afraid it was about to burst into flame.

The golem began to twitch, starting with its fingers and moving inward. After about ten seconds, Nestor practically leaped off the assembly bench, rolling his shoulders and ‘stretching’ his legs.

“Finally,” he whispered. “Good. Splendid. Well done, Leon.”

“Praise? From you? Asger, pinch me, I must be dreaming.”

Leon was kind of surprised when the ninth-tier complied, pinching him quite hard on the arm, though he supposed he shouldn’t have been.

Asger quickly turned his attention back to Nestor. “So? How was it? Is it working? Let me run some diagnostics…”

“Not necessary,” Nestor protested, but Asger hardly seemed to hear as he grabbed Nestor’s hand and forced it to a nearby control console, which immediately lit up with glowing runes.

“Ehhhh, power looks good,” Asger murmured to himself. “There don’t appear to be any problems with the nerve enchantments… this is looking very good…”

Nestor, instead of complaining, also looked at the console. “Well, look at that. Performing even better than expected. Well done, you two.”

Leon smiled bitterly. He was proud of his work, but it still stung to be reminded of the cost.

“Asger,” Nestor eventually said.

“Eh? Yes?”

“I would like to have some words with you, there are some projects I have in mind that I think you would take quite well to. However, for the moment, could you wait outside? I have to speak with Leon first.”

Asger’s eyes practically sparkled at the mention of new projects, but he slowly nodded when Nestor finished and airily glided out the room.

Nestor waited until the door closed before turning back to Leon. He stared at Leon for a long moment, his new golem form superficially resembling his old one in just about every way. However, it had been heavily reinforced with thicker armor and stronger structural enchantments.

This, of course, required greater power. The soul ruby had been enhanced with stronger methods of gathering ambient magic power to keep itself and the golem charged with magic power, even incorporating an ancient rune in its overall design, but Nestor was still going to have to ‘sleep’ for several hours a day—really just shutting the golem down to use as little power as possible while magic power could be absorbed.

“Leon,” Nestor seriously stated, “I said it then, but I feel I must reiterate it: thank you. I… I have spent the last few days lost in thought. I was almost killed in a moment during your fight with the upstart barbarian who seeks to claim our legacy. This would not have been the first time I died, but it would’ve certainly been the last. This has been weighing upon my mind, as well as your decision to save me instead of your supporter.

“I… would like to think that I have proven myself reliable in these past couple decades, but I think back to the many times when I have failed in that regard.”

“Nestor, I—”

Nestor held up a hand and Leon fell silent. “Please, let me speak my piece, it won’t take long.”

Leon nodded and waved his hand, allowing Nestor to continue.

“Our Clan’s only hope lies in your survival. No matter what the upstart says, if you die, then our Clan dies. I have known this and supported you, especially after our Honored Ancestor granted you her favor.

“But… despite all that you’ve done for me—forgiving my transgressions against you, and even providing me support when requested—I have allowed our verbal spars to get the better of me, among other things. I would like to say, then, right here and now: Leon, you have my undying support. You are the future of our Clan. You have saved what remains of my life when you had good reason not to. I will never forget that. So… thank you, my King.”

Nestor fully bowed, lowering his head until his upper body rested at a ninety-degree angle to his legs.

Leon took a deep breath, a little overwhelmed at Nestor’s declaration. The dead man could be acerbic, certainly, but Leon had received his gratitude before—notably the first time when he’d built the man a golem body. But this… this felt more natural and more heartfelt.

“Thank you, Nestor,” Leon eventually replied once his brain caught up. “Your first impression was terrible, but you’ve proven yourself to me, at least, in the time since. My knowledge of enchantment has advanced by leaps and bounds in these past years, thanks in no small part to you. And I hope that you will continue to teach me in the years to come.”

“I would rather suffer horrific tortures for a thousand universal cycles than deny my Clan the knowledge I possess. I will spare no expense to make sure this knowledge is retained.”

Leon nodded again, feeling a little awkward at just how genuine Nestor seemed to be. But, despite a few darker thoughts worming their way through his mind regarding the dead man’s intentions, he decided to take Nestor at face value.

“Work with me, and work with the Ravens.” Leon took a few steps and laid a hand upon Nestor’s shoulder—not too hard to do with the man still bowed at the waist. “I am not the last of our Clan; not with you still here. Now, let’s rebuild our Clan together.” Leon gently pushed Nestor back into a standing position, which Nestor limply allowed.

After a moment of silence, Nestor responded quietly, “Yes. Let’s.”

Leon’s smile broadened. “Great. Now, there’s something I’d to ask of you before we call Asger back in here, something that I’m hoping is possible…”

Leon quickly outlined his idea, and Nestor replied, “While it’s only a temporary measure, it should be quite easy to accomplish. I even know an ancient rune that will help with the interface…”

The two quickly moved over to the inscription mirror to begin design drafts on Leon’s project, and so taken were they with their project that it was almost an hour before they remembered to call Asger back in. Fortunately, the Raven was able to help, and their design was not only finished in a matter of hours, but Leon had even managed to fabricate a prototype.

Now, he just had to test it…

---

Alcander was, as he ought to be as the commander of the Tempest Knights, quite busy, but Leon found him easily enough seeing to the training of some of the younger and weaker members of the order.

The Tempest Knights had been given barracks close to Leon’s palace, but since most of the order’s members were fairly high-tiered members of their respective Tribes, they had plenty of financial resources of their own and so often had their own homes in the city. Still, part of the barracks complex were several training fields that had been donated by the Lions for the Knights’ use.

When Leon found Alcander—after having to endure the ceaseless bowing and other shows of respect from the Tempest Knights he encountered on the way—he had the one-armed man follow him back to Alcander’s office. It was a fairly small space, but more than enough for a man who preferred to spend his time outside with the Knights than he did inside doing paperwork. Fortunately, there were plenty of other Knights who were bureaucratically competent that Alcander could rely upon.

“So,” Alcander said as he closed the door behind them and they were able to speak without ceremony, “what’s up, Leon?”

Leon simply grinned at him and produced what he, Nestor, and Asger had so recently completed: the arm of a golem, but more human-sized—or, perhaps more accurately, Alcander-sized.

Alcander’s eyes immediately shot upward as a smile spread across his face. “Is that…?”

“Just something to tide you over until we can get that arm regrown,” Leon said. “Want to try it out?”

“FUCK YES!” Alcander boomed as he immediately pulled everything covering his torso into his soul realm, leaving him bare-chested. “How are we going to do this?”

“We have to strap it on, and a series of enchantments will seal the arm to your shoulder while an ancient rune will allow you to control it as if it were your own arm. You won’t be able to channel that much magic through it since it isn’t actually your arm, but you should be able to get about third-tier magic power through it. Other than that, it’ll function exactly like your flesh and blood.”

Even though it wasn’t as strong as a real arm strengthened by years of magic power would be, Alcander still quite excitedly agreed.

It didn’t take long to get the arm attached, and once it was, Alcander immediately began putting it through its paces.

For Leon, he reveled in Alcander’s joy as his own left arm ached. However, that revelry soon came to an end when he received a call from Gaius over the comm lotuses. The last of the attending elders had arrived; the Elder Council would finally be meeting in just a few hours to discuss their response to Sunlit’s attack and Exallos’ death.

---

White-hot pain lanced through him as the salve was pressed against his face for perhaps the dozenth time. He could practically feel his flesh sizzle beneath it, the foul concoction doing nothing to soothe the pain that had lingered for days.

Sunlit endured the pain for only a few seconds before snarling and pushing the healer away. He cleaned his face with ravenous alacrity, eager as he was to get the stuff off his face.

“Y-Your Imperial Majesty!” the healer sputtered. “The ointment must have time to work!”

Sunlit turned toward the hapless healer, all the fury of the storm in his expression. “That shit felt like it was going to burn my fucking face off! What have you put in it? Are you trying to assassinate me?!”

“N-No!” was all the healer was able to get out before Sunlit lunged across the room and slapped the man across the face so hard that his entire skull disintegrated, painting a not-insignificant portion of the wall behind the healer red. “You fucking incompetent cock-sucker!” Sunlit raged as the pain continued to linger, his wrath only momentarily assuaged.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed himself in the mirror. He’d been shirtless to let the healer do his best to treat the wounds that he’d suffered in his battle with Leon Raime, and while it wasn’t the full extent of his injuries, it certainly put them into perspective.

His upper body had been covered in angry red lightning burns that crisscrossed nearly every square inch of his upper body, resembling a spectacularly complex root system. Worryingly, some of the vein-like burns had been burned black, and even with the natural healing abilities of a tenth-tier mage along with the finest healers that the Sunlit Empire could call upon, no progress had been made in healing any of this.

The memory of how he’d sustained those burns had Sunlit shivering in terror and fury in equal measure. Black lightning, summoned from practically nowhere, and powerful enough to knock him out for a few seconds. Some trump card that Leon Raime had pulled out when it became clear he couldn’t win with the power he had at his disposal.

‘If he still has access to that desperate measure…’ Sunlit thought as a shiver of fear ran down his spine.

What he found far more concerning, however, were the black burns he’d sustained to his once-handsome face. Much of Leon Raime’s strange black fire had penetrated his helmet, causing nearly the entire right side of Sunlit’s face to blacken and melt, ruining his features.

Worse, after the fight was over and his adrenaline and misplaced euphoria at, for a moment at least, having had his longed-for goal practically in hand had finally worn off, pain had flooded through him from all of these wounds, and none of them could seemingly be healed. Whatever Leon had done to his power to make it black had infused it with some kind of power that none of his healers could identify, that caused him ceaseless pain, and that resisted all attempts to heal.

He supposed he could count himself lucky that his wounds were only superficial, but he couldn’t help but despair and rage at the damage done to his perfect looks. His appearance had been ruined, and not a single one of his cockless healers could do anything about it.

There came a knock at his door, and it took Sunlit a minute to dress and conceal himself from the door before he opened it from a distance with his power.

One of his adjutants, clearly shit-scared but unsurprised at seeing the healer’s corpse, entered the room.

“Your Imperial Majesty, the Keeper of the Sentinels has arrived.”

Sunlit, from behind his privacy screen, smiled for just a moment, the stretching of his burned flesh bringing even more pain to him. It was time for the Keeper to fulfill his end of their bargain. The Sky Devils would be put to the sword once and for all, the Ilian and Sacred Golden Empires would bow to him, and he would tear Leon limb from bloody limb as he plundered every little secret squirreled away in his blood.

‘That black lightning will be mine,’ Sunlit greedily thought. ‘That black fire will be mine! Those women will be mine!’

Another smile bloomed, but this time, Sunlit didn’t suppress it immediately despite the pain it brought him.

‘Perhaps I’ll keep Leon alive as I force him to watch me take his women. Heh, when I’m done, that boy will wish I’d killed him quickly!’