Chapter 266 The Empress, The Goddess And The Supreme

– POV General –

"Anyway, let's get back to the facts, shall we ? Listen now, the plan is very simple hehehe~..."

"..."

"Our Kingdom has always had very stable diplomatic relations with the Empire of Vancesia thanks to the former Emperor who died 5 years ago. Fortunately, since his daughter came to power, these relations have remained intact, although very discreet for other countries. Thus, the Empress is the only one capable of answering our call and with her technomagic, will be able to help us make a difference"

Vancesia was a place not so different from the Kingdom of Zal except that the people at its head were far more formidable than King Theophylactus. At the head of this Empire was Empress Cleo Vancesia who had succeeded her father, the last Emperor to sit on the throne. There, the Church of Humanity did not exist, but an organization with the same beliefs had sprung up along with all the others throughout the world of Kleisaria.

The organization in the Empire of Vancesia was called the Order of Light, and unlike the Kingdom of Zal, it got along very well with the Empress, and there had been no conflict between them for years. Together, instead of hunting down other races even if they were still hated, Vancesia preferred cunning over force. Any means were good to rally as many of the lesser races as possible with the promise of happiness that would of course not last.

Those who resisted were killed, but those who joined the Order and the Empire would find themselves in camps where they were exploited and the only way out was death.These camps had been built specifically for the non-human races, and the atmosphere was quite different from what the humans had promised. Nowadays, the Empire was filled with camps where the exploitation of half-humans and other races through forced labor was completely normal.

The leaders of Vancesia had covered up what was going on so well that even today the camps were still filling up pretty well. For the Order and the Empress, these places were gold mines, as they allowed them to monitor the half-humans, to have total control over their lives, and to develop the country through the daily work of their slaves using their strength. Many collapsed, exhausted, unable to continue or even died, but nothing changed.

They were exploited like beasts, objects to be thrown away if they became defective, because after all, for Vancesia they were plentiful enough not to care. All means were good to attract as many inferior races as possible to these camps and the most incredible thing was that no human knew of their existence. Everything was so well controlled because to ensure the constant arrival of prisoner workers it was necessary to keep the secret and use vile means to attract them by using the deep desire of the other races to live happily.

As a result, Vancesia was one of the most prosperous countries in the world thanks to its labor force, or rather its slaves, which benefited everyone. The Empress and the Order had pushed the concept of the slave trader making them all the sole property of the Crown, filling the camps. As a result, the development of the many activities was proceeding at an amazing speed thanks to this system they ironically called "Cohabitation".

Everything was used, from magical experiments, to labor in the mines, to entertainment, and the strongest were even forcibly conscripted into the army. Treated as cannon fodder, the other races were even forced to fight for a country that exploited them and sometimes to kill their own kind. All of this was done with an ingenious and Machiavellian discretion, making this Empire one of the most powerful, advanced and respected in the entire Continent.

Those present in the underground room knew that if they could indeed get help from this country, then all was not lost. Even if the threat was unknown, no matter how many enemies or how strong they were, if Vancesia were to join the fight, victory was almost assured. As Prince Erzian saw the faces slowly change, opening his arms wide, he was quick to share his enthusiasm with vigor.

"If we really have to face a crisis because of the Harbinger of Chaos, then I am sure that Her Highness Cleo would be of great help. Am I wrong ? Can't we defeat these subraces ? Are you going to tremble alone like rats or do what humanity does best and ally against a common enemy for the survival of us all ?!?!"

"T-That's right, Vancesia is actually even bigger than Zal. Prince Erzian and Prince Iolas are right, with their help...we can win..."

"To hell with our pride, as long as we don't lose to subrace scum !"

"YEAH THAT'S RIGHT !"

It had only taken a few words to rekindle that flame that seemed to have disappeared in everyone's heart since the death of the King. The lost minds were simple, clinging to the slightest sign of hope so as not to sink into an all-consuming madness linked to fear. That said, the exclamations and compliments of the nobles were quickly cut off by the sound of two hands clapping softly followed by a calm androgynous voice.

"What ardor your Highness I would almost be moved, you have it seems more nerve than your late father. That said..."

"..."

"...you are both still far too naive"

The Supreme had finally spoken after listening carefully to the very fiery speech of the first Prince, far from being caught up in this ardor. Sage and the Paladins too had not jumped for joy like the nobles, not impressed by this far from extraordinary plan. Annoyed by their intervention that had chilled the Assembly, Iolas sitting in his chair had opened one eye in the direction of the figure before questioning them coldly.

"I beg your pardon ?"

It was impossible to see their face under their veil but their tone was bordering on haughty which did not fail to irritate the two Princes dreaming of glory and victory. However, they were intelligent enough not to ignore their knowledge which would undoubtedly be of great use. Luna and Ash, still standing at the top of the room, were holding their breath, both curious and afraid of what they were going to say.

The source of this content is nov/el/bin[./]net'

After all, it was the Supreme who was by far the most cunning and dangerous person in the room for the two from Elysium at that very moment. The more time passed, the more the bad feeling of the Commander did not cease growing without she could explain it to herself. The words that this mysterious being pronounced under their toga, were far from helping this feeling to disappear, only increasing it more.

"The Harbinger of Chaos is not to be taken lightly, even if it takes the form of a harmless looking girl, it should not be underestimated. I must admit that the help of the neighboring country is ingenious, but do you even know how much human strength it took to prevent the extinction of humans thousands of years ago ?"

"Your Excellency, what do you mean ?"

"Involving Vancesia is an advantage, but how do you expect to build a strategy in barely a month ? That's the time frame you calculated, isn't it ? Me too. Those who killed your father, wiped out the army, that woman...they're coming, no doubt about it, maybe they're already on their way. So, how do you plan to rally another country and be sure you're not also rushing it to its doom as well ?"

The head of the Church had raised several important points, indeed their initiative was a good idea but then ? To increase the strength of the human army and what ? To make strategies was good but to think and plan for a total victory was better. At the words of the Supreme, the silence had returned and the faces, a few seconds ago illuminated, had become dark again while it was their turn to announce their plan.

It was as if they had been waiting for this moment from the very beginning, observing and gauging the qualities of these two Princes who had suddenly gained in power. They felt superior, as the leader of the Organization with pages of the Liberator's diary to fight against the Chaos Harbinger. For them it was their mission and only them could lead the Kingdom of Zal to its victory, with or without the help of the Vancesia Empire, that was their prophecy.

"For years I have been developing a weapon to counter the power of that thing that was born again in the form of a little girl. A power developed with the help of my experiments on the mana of the subraces and more particularly of the children offering much more satisfactory results."

"You conducted experiments without telling the Crown ?"

"Oh please your Highness, this is not the time for bickering, I wasn't planning on revealing it but it seems it was necessary. Weren't you talking about putting one's ego aside for the good of the Kingdom ? Come on, I'm offering you a second solution you should be jumping for joy instead of making that face~"

Trapped by his own words earlier, Erzian could not protest or he would lose his credibility and he knew it very well. Like his brother who was experiencing the same frustration, they could only wait and listen to this famous solution that the Supreme had talked about. Doing experiments of this magnitude under the nose of the Royalty was not allowed without a declaration beforehand but the situation changed everything and the head of the Church knew it too.

"Tch..."

The Knight-like Prince and the Scholar-like Prince then remained silent, staring at the black veil with rather hostile eyes. The Supreme was gloating and even without seeing their face it was easy to understand, they had obviously planned everything from the beginning. Now that Erzian and Iolas were trapped, all they had to do was to finally explain the nature of this power without revealing too much of course, still keeping their deepest secrets.

"When mana develops in the body of each living being, during childhood it is much more unstable because it is still developing. Just like the growth of the bones and the body that we observe during the first years of life before becoming an adult. Therefore, my experiments focused on removing mana from children subrace in different ways to study"

The Supreme spoke in a cheerful voice that made most of the men and women in the assembly shiver with excitement and anxiety. However, there were two people who were struggling to stay calm with each revelation in the secret room. Luna and Ash felt their hatred for humans rise after they discovered that somewhere children were being tortured and dying in pain.

It was exactly like the Queen's little brother who was thought to be dead, who had suffered so much for 10 years, his whole life. At that moment, the Commander realized the immense strength and will to survive that the little boy had shown in the face of this abominable being. Was this what awaited the Princess if she was captured ? It was inconceivable, impossible, not while the Empress and the Queen were still alive.

"Now hear this..."

However, the revelations were not over, once again the voice of the head of the Church rang out, bringing the two soldiers of Elysium out of their thoughts. Perhaps they would have preferred not to hear what was going to be said next, but how could they have known. Hate, desire for revenge, sadness and anger were all over them, but in a few seconds they would be in real fear, unprepared for what they were about to hear.

In just a few words, the Supreme was going to shatter the hopes of conquest, victory, revenge and that feeling of invincibility of these two dreamers dreaming of justice.

______

< Somewhere far away >

While two Nations were preparing to fight for their own ideals, far away from these quarrels a woman with long blue hair was walking down a luxurious corridor. She was dressed in a white dress with a thin golden belt that highlighted her heels of the same color. Slowly walking forward with her head immersed in her thoughts, the beautiful, shapely woman began to speak in a loud voice covering the sound of her steps.

"I wonder what's going on with Luci-...Freya's side. I hope she's not making too many waves and is quietly searching for her powers..."

Titania who had been taken away by Matriarch Pria Luxumbra for a month and a half from Kleisaria to take care of her son couldn't help but be concerned. She had to manage his rise from Demigod to God which was very important but so was Freya. Not to make waves ? It was true that the Empress wasn't planning on invading a country at all as well as conquering an entire continent, everything was going just fine.

"I need to get this over with quickly so I can go back and see what's going on, I feel like everything is slipping away from me but I can't tell why. Aaarg this is pissing me off !"

She couldn't believe her words, Freya was far from sitting quietly on her throne enjoying life while seeking more power. She knew everything and Titania knew nothing, she didn't know that Kalaa was back with her sister, that Shiro had the Time element and that Lucifer remembered everything. She who thought she could control and manipulate everything had become the fool whose plan was turning against her without even being aware of it.

"A little visit is in order after I'm done with what I have to do, Freya dear little pawn I hope you don't forget me fufu~ I'll be back in a month, but for now..."

One month, there was only one month left for the Goddess to finally be free of this drudgery that was slowing down her beautiful power plans. In three different places, the next few days were going to be decisive, their destiny dangerously intertwined leaving this month to determine everything. On one side a manipulative Divinity eager for power and on the other an Empress dreaming of freedom or a Supreme seeking total extermination.

There was so much to hide for the she-wolf that the sudden arrival of Titania could very easily turn into a gust of wind bringing down the house of cards. Without even knowing it, everyone was playing the pawns that would decide their fate, each one convinced that they were doing the right thing for their own good. In the eyes of the universe, the line between good and evil was blurred, for no matter what the ideals, blood would flow for the good of one and only one people.

Which would emerge victorious ? Which would disappear ? Which hero of their own story would end up as the villain in another's tragic one ? Which new legend would be part of this new era of revolution where the exploited stand up against their executioners ? A dark time where a simple Empress in search of freedom would rise up against the Gods themselves to take back all that had been taken from her...and even more.