Emyr stood in the sky above the slave camp, using the sun behind him to mask his presence. Strictly speaking, Emyr wasn’t standing in the sky and was, instead, using his Bloodline to blast flames from his feet to hover but, for all intents and purposes, he stood in the sky.
Emyr been there for days, watching and listening as Erin and her companions had prepared to take on the slave camp after killing the Cored that Count Trillden had gone to face. When Erin had guided the Volkarian to the next Stage, simply with a few minutes of her time, Emyr’s eyebrows had twitched. Emyr had been mildly surprised by how easily Erin had guided the Volkarian to have his revelation but, ultimately, not particularly impressed. Erin had been extensively trained to observe and break down situations and that had been the skill she’d used to help the Volkarian advance.
When Erin had managed to expand the Volkarian’s understanding of his Concept so much that he fainted, however, Emyr had been shocked. Both of his eyebrows had shot up and he’d nearly reacted to the surprise by increasing the output of his flames, something he’d trained into his instincts during his time fighting wars as a foot soldier in the Arikaran army. Emyr had immediately gained control of himself, the output of his flames barely even wavering, but he’d been deeply struck. If Erin continued improving her companions in this way, they had the potentially to become very formidable assets.
Of course, the Volkarian would never work for the Arikaran monarchy but, if he was given carefully selected missions where his interests aligned with Arikar, he could be useful. Ashoka, the boy possessed by one of Emyr’s most respected opponents, was interesting as well. From what Emyr could see, he was extremely weak at the moment; only at the Dusk Stage; but he had a lot of potential. When Emyr considered Ashoka’s unique abilities, he too would make a great asset. The fact that Shinia had practically driven him out with pitchforks and flaming torches would only help his pitch to the boy.
Erin’s work with him during the short week leading up to the attack was a solid foundation but Ashe had a long way to go before he would be even remotely competent, which was the reason that Erin had ensured he’d stayed out of the fighting when they had attacked. The Volkarian’s desire to increase his power to help was admirable but Emyr had agreed with Erin and Ashoka in standing against the decision. Now that he’d suffered the consequences of his actions, the Volkarian would be more cautious in the future and would also be far more powerful once he gained control over his new abilities.
Emyr watched as Erin assaulted the camp with Ashoka. Overall, Erin was remarkably effective and hadn’t lost her edge at all. Erin had a few points to improve upon, notably including her unnecessary extension of her fight against the overseer. Emyr felt when Valour Akantha came streaking across the sky, projecting the power of his Bloodline for everyone to feel. While Emyr couldn’t feel it personally, he could see that Valour was rubbing the particles of the cloud together to generate lightning.
Valour landed and attacked near immediately. Emyr readied himself to intervene as soon as he was needed to save the lives of his daughter and her companions, because attacking someone below your own Stage was a great way to invite the ire of someone higher than your Stage, but it turned out that he didn’t need to intervene. After Erin and Ashoka had been knocked out and when the Volkarian was only barely clinging to consciousness, Cababasi awoke. Immediately, he had immobilised Valour so that he couldn’t cause any collateral damage. Cababasi had then signalled to Emyr that he knew Emyr was there; a gesture so fast that none of the children would have been able to see it; and then proceeded to execute Valour. Technically, Emyr should have stopped Cababasi from killing Valour but it didn’t really matter in the end. Valour would be executed and a celestial would still consume his life. It was better for Cababasi; a predictable opponent; to consume Valour’s life than it would be for some unknown variable to do so.
After Cababasi consumed Valour’s life and knocked the Volkarian out, Emyr stopped throwing out flames and let himself drop. Emyr felt the wind rushing by him, tearing at him and whipping his clothes around as he dropped. Slowly, the camp below him grew larger and larger as the distance to the ground shortened. When the ground was only a hundred metres away, fire flared from Emyr’s feet and slowed his descent. Emyr cut the fire before he burnt down any of the huts or caused anyone any harm from the heat. Falling the rest of the way to the ground with ease, Emyr didn’t even bother rolling or bending his knees to absorb the impact of the fall, instead just climbing out of the small impact crater he’d made and walking over to Cababasi.
“Greetings, Cababasi.”
“Hello, Emyr. It’s been quite some time since we last fought, hasn’t it?”
Emyr nodded to Cababasi. It had been quite some time since they’d fought, though this was also not the time to fight again. While Cababasi may be a Demon King, it did not change the fact that Ashoka was not a Demon King and his body wouldn’t be able to withstand the true strength of the demon, let alone Emyr hitting the demon with his full strength. That wasn’t even including the collateral damage they might cause to Arikar or the innocents that could be harmed. “Thank you for saving my daughter, demon.”
Cababasi waved his hand, “You don’t need to thank me. That boy needed to die, and I happen to quite like your daughter. Plus, you could have saved her at any time, making my help redundant.” Emyr raised an eyebrow and Cababasi scowled lightly, “Not like that. We both know she’s a few hundred years too young for me.”
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Emyr conceded Cababasi’s point with a nod, deciding to change the topic, “We should get these young ones to a healer.” Cababasi answered by grabbing the Volkarian and slinging him over his shoulder. Emyr grabbed his daughter and jumped into the air. Cababasi grew wings from his energy body, and they sprouted from his back, in between his shoulder-blades. With a large gust of wind that came from flapping his wings, Cab took off from the ground and caught up to Emyr just as flames burst from his legs. Emyr had to limit the power output of his Bloodline because, while he could reach Akantha city in just minutes if he was acting by himself, doing so would probably snap Erin’s bones and kill her from the sheer force and speed involved in the flight. Even if that didn’t happen, the wind would tear off her skin and shred her muscles and, while Emyr was very powerful, he didn’t have any ability to shield his daughter from the effects involved in his method of flight.
Instead, Emyr settled in for the next few hours and reminisced with Cababasi about some of their greatest fights.
When Emyr and Cababasi touched down in Akantha city about 3 hours later, they were greeted by Duchess Akantha herself. Duchess Akantha bowed to Emyr and eyed the demon warily, “Welcome to my city, Grand Duke. It is always a pleasure to see you.”
Emyr, as his position dictated, gave a low nod to Akantha in response to her greeting, “Well met, Duchess, but I’m afraid this visit will not be pleasurable.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Cababasi butted in, “I think I’ll quite enjoy this.” The demon manifested a toy and a chaise from his energy, displaying masterful control of his energy considering neither of the constructs were actual abilities and that they were formed solely from his ability to manipulate his magical energy.
Emyr shot the demon a glare, faster than Duchess Akantha should be able to perceive given that she was at the fifth Stage, and turned his attention back to Duchess Akantha, who frowned. “Apologies for the rudeness, Grand Duke, but what are you referring to?”
Emyr took in a breath. This was always his least favourite part of his job but, when he had the chance, he always volunteered to do this, “Valour is dead.”
Duchess Akantha’s face betrayed some emotion, then, and her eyes widened in shock. Emyr could practically see the thoughts running through her head as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath of her own, steadying herself. A small quiver ran through Akantha’s hands but she stopped it by clenching and unclenching her fists. Akantha’s voice was even when she spoke, though Emyr knew how raw her emotions would be right then. It was something that he’d seen many, many times, “How did it happen?”
“My daughter was sent on her first mission recently, as you may be aware. She was sent to investigate rumours of a smuggling and enslaving operation. She found irrefutable proof that showed Valour was the person running the operation. When she went back to the camp to free the slaves, the overseer contacted your son, and he came to try and kill everyone and cover up the failure. When he tried to kill Ashoka,” Emyr gestured towards Cababasi, “The demon inhabiting him killed him in retaliation.”
Akantha squeezed her eyes shut again, swallowing loudly and composing herself, even as her jaw quivered, “Thank you for telling me this, Grand Duke. Is there anything else today?” Akantha’s tone was carefully measured and Emyr would have rather left everything there, at least for the time being.
Emyr sighed and let his regret slip onto his face before schooling it into careful neutrality again, “I’m afraid not, Duchess. Unfortunately, as you are aware, there must be consequences. Valour received a quicker, cleaner death than he would have if he’d faced execution, and suffered his consequences but, as he did this on your territory and as your son, no less, you must face consequences as well.”
Akantha pursed her lips together as she nodded, “I understand, Grand Duke. What punishment do I face?”
“I will need to confer with the queen for anything else, especially considering the fact that you just lost your son, but you will be immediately demoted to the rank of Count. I am also revoking your right to work on anything that may affect your territory until a new Duke or Duchess has been chosen.”
“Thank you, Grand Duke, for your leniency.”
“You are dismissed, Countess Akantha.” Akantha bowed at the waist and Emyr returned it with a bow of his head.
As the countess turned to leave, Emyr caught her wrist, “Mora.” Mora Akantha turned her head to meet Emyr’s stony gaze, unshed tears glistening in her eyes, “Take the free time you’ve been given to grieve your loss, along with your husband. The queen will understand if you need more time afterward and I’ll make sure to personally give your other children in the army leave to come home.” Akantha opened her mouth to speak but just ended up clearing her throat around the lump that Emyr knew would be stuck in her throat. Instead, she just nodded her acceptance and Emyr let go of her wrist. Fog billowed out from Countess Akantha as she flew back to her residence and Emyr’s stony gaze watched her form as it left. Emyr turned back to Cababasi, who nodded, and let go of his possession over Ashoka’s body.
The time that Emyr had given Countess Akantha would allow her to grieve her son, yes, but it would also ensure that she couldn’t make any changes to her territory that would make it more difficult for whomever was promoted next. On top of that, it would also allow the candidates for the promotion to become more familiar with their potential duties as they covered Akantha’s work in her place.
Emyr picked up Ashoka and the Volkarian on his free shoulder and headed to the city’s teleporter. Most people had to wait in a long line to use the teleporter but not Emyr Dawnblaze, Grand Duke of Arikar, General of the Arikaran army and the queen’s right-hand man. Emyr was ushered through the teleporter within minutes and was standing in the reception area of the capital’s teleporter only a few seconds after the Akantha city teleporter had been fully charged. Emyr strode out of the receiver and, fire spewing from his legs, flew towards the palace where he would drop his daughter and her companions with the royal physicians.
Emyr sighed as he flew, dreading the amount of work he’d have to do very soon. Even though Emyr had worked during his time watching over his daughter and her companions, he had still fallen behind in his duties as the Grand Duke and a mountain of paperwork that would take days to catch up on awaited him.