In the halls of Arcus Kiss, amidst the battle harem representatives, none could hear the discussions between Dylan and Vanessa. Her words chastised the emperor like an elder rebuking a child.
"Because of you saving us, he will never attack you. And you may call on him three times due to the favors he owes you. However, he will no longer assist you beyond the BHR. We all felt his immeasurable disappointment through our link. I just thought you should know."
Angry at the tone and words of the woman in front of him, Dylan responded in a heated manner.
"What do you mean? I maneuvered him to defeat these thorns on my side, so what? Didn't he do the same? No one is inherently noble Lady Vanessa, we are all just vile schemers that use or get used! Why am I the evil one for using the hands I got on my own!"
Vanessa shed tears as she answered. "You, are right Prince Dylan, you are not at fault for doing such a thing. But unlike you who thought of my husband as a card all along, he really was your friend. It seems the disappearance of your mothers and siblings did a number on you. I am sorry."
Dylan did not have a happy childhood, his siblings died one after another and Rhyne actively tried to trap him. Due to being betrayed over and over again he no longer believed in Integrity or honor. His primary belief is that everyone wants and needs something. To gain someone's loyalty you just need to supply them.
The blond empress of Heavenly Sword broke the mind and sound screens she made and vanished into thin air. The crown prince who got left behind saw the faces of the ones around him. None of them asked anything about Vanessa. And simply waited for him to lead them somewhere.
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm After a few seconds of mulling, one of them asked in trepidation. "Your Highness, the next rounds for the qualifier is about to begin, should we head out now?" Unable to stop himself Dylan asked in curiosity.
"After Hiro left, did you see anyone approach me?"
One of the representatives responded in confusion. "No your Highness, there was no one. were you expecting someone?"
The injured people from Flarestar, Ironshield, and Snowind all picked themselves up and left. Dylan's actions already indicated they would not have friendly relations moving forward. With Hiro gunning for them they do not have any leeway to spare for the Dominii.
But one of them stopped by the door and commented for everyone to hear. "Despite, being a survivor of the savior-led empires I see that the Dominii are nothing but a bunch of cowards. The nerve of you all to rebrand as the new Valorious Empire. Pathetic!" The crown prince ignored them and asked the ones who remained.
"Shall we head to the command center then?"
After they left, Dylan then led the representative back to the BHR command center. This group wished to view the battles from better seats and as a favor the crown prince allowed them. Of course, their true aim was to see the extent of Three Sword's battle prowess.
And Dylan who knew of such purposes intended to maximize the shock value by letting them see nine overpowered individuals all belonging from the same group. When they arrived Alan and Xing were already seriously watching the matches, aside from them there were no others in the main room.
The command center had one large room where Dylan and the golden pair normally resided in. While technically it had the space to accommodate the prince's entire group it was not the only office to monitor the event. Outside of the main office, fourteen smaller rooms all housed Dylan's people who analyzed and studied the participants of the BHR qualifiers.
As the rest of the representatives made themselves comfortable Dylan approached Alan and Xing and inquired about the current matches.
"Anything different from the last round?"
Alan answered in a casual manner. "Yes, when Three-swords again stepped forward in nine arena's there were about fifteen minutes that no one wanted to step forward. Some teams asked for reshuffles on the spot. The impact of Master and the rest are creating a divide among the combatants."
Xing then followed up by sharing more. "They seem now to form anti-three-sword factions, the referees unable to decide were about to stop them but Master had everyone say they accept the changes. The arenas are currently reshuffling as they please."
'Well, that is to be expected. At their level, hardly any way in this group would be able to oppose Hiro and his battle harem. I told the referees to just go with that whatever Hiro's people suggested since it hardly mattered.' Dylan thought.
However just then from all nine arenas the members of Three Swords then all looked in one direction. The prince who noticed the near-simultaneous reaction quickly used his senses to detect what Heavenly Sword looked at.
Unable to stop himself the crown prince cursed as he saw what was approaching. "FUCK! Why did it happen now?"
One representative commented as she saw something bizarre. "Where are they all going?" The prince looked at the screens and saw Hiro's people all leaving the arena. Despite the call of the referees each member of the butcher's battle harem left without so much as a word.
Dylan felt Hiro's group all heading to the west gate. When they arrived an extremely loud klaxon started to wail like a deranged lunatic. It was then followed by an automated alarm that echoed for all to hear.I think you should take a look at
"WARNING! Please prepare for monster invasion combat. An S-class-sized monster invasion has been sighted and is now heading for this City. Please evacuate to your designated evacuation shelter. All Battle Harems are to report to the City hall for deployment. This is not a drill. WARNING! Plea..."
The message kept repeating in breaks for the alarm. One of the things the saviors enforced was evacuation and safety drills on their domains. Knowing what to do in the event of an emergency allowed people to organize better and minimize confusion.
Dylan then took a magic device that looked like a circular disk and placed it on the desk. His calibers flowed into it which activated the contraption and as it thrummed with power it expanded to look like an oversized plate.
The plate then showed a floating image of an old man in priest robes. When the old man noticed Dylan and bowed in courtesy, none of the other people in the room could see the image.
From the representative's and the golden pair's point of view, Dylan was looking at the plate silently. Obviously eager to find out what was going on, the crown prince started to speak hurriedly.
"Watcher, give me a status update. What is going on? Why has the alarm for the Apocalypse tides been triggered? On whose authority was it activated?"
However before the man could reply, a voice as sweet as honey spoke.
"I gave the command dearest Ototo-kun. After seeing what was happening I asked them to raise it. The entire continent should be up in arms about now."
A beautiful raven-haired woman entered the screen as she smiled.
"Rhyne? Why? Explain now!"
"Such disregard for your dear Onee-sama, I'm hurt Ototo-kun."
"Rhyne, answer. Now."
"Mou! You are no fun." Chastised the princess.
"Well, that is what makes you adorable, I can still remember how you clung to me when you were younger. Saying you would make me your bride and all that..."
Annoyed at the audacity of his sister Dylan threatened her once more "I am hanging up."
Rhyne then suddenly changed her demeanor and lost the cutesy personality she displayed earlier. "No longer even putting up appearance I see. What a shame."
Dylan sighed in a defeated voice and said in a gentle manner. "Onee-sama, please explain why the Apocalypse Tide alarm has been rung. That needed the approval of at least two hundred kingdoms. What is going on?"
Smiling Rhyne then fixed her hair as she explained. "I am not sure what is going on, but monster invasions are happening all over the continent simultaneously right now. They vary from B to S but at least a hundred kingdoms are expected to be hit. And those are only the ones we know of."
"What? Why how? Where are they all coming from?" Dylan stammered.
"I don't know, None, even our empire can cover such a wide area. There would be no one who could investigate as most are preoccupied with defending. With a lot of battle harems on our Empire due to the BHR, the kingdoms of the old Valorious and Gracyeanor empires are in peril."
Dylan felt a headache coming on, why did this have to happen during the BHR? The other kingdoms would be annihilated if they could not find a way to defend themselves against the one coming for them. He then tried to reach out to Autumn but she didn't reply.
As part Gracyeanor bloodline she should have known this ahead of time right? It was only then that communication from Vesna arrived in his chats.
[Vesna]: Dear, I heard the Klaxon, I went to see Autumn and found her collapsed in her room having a seizure. I managed to stabilize her. Leto and Talvi have reached out to our sub harems to gather on the west gate.
