Argon's Emperor sat bored in his chambers. He was waiting for news coming from multiple battle fronts.

"The suspense is always the most annoying part." A messenger soon arrived at his door. "Imperial Majesty! News has arrived!"

"Just come in already."

The messenger with his head lowered opened the door before getting on his knees, "Imperial Majesty news from Elion has arrived!"

"Just get on with it."

"Ye-yes! The Black Castle has been occupied!"

"Finally, they should have occupied the Castle the moment they made contact with it. Is there anything else?"

"Ye-Y-yes! St-St-Stern." "

If you are unable to form a sentence properly I'm thinking of finding a new messenger who doesn't try my patience."

"Sternbright has died in battle. Yo-your brother lost an arm, and the army occupying the Black Castle can barely sustain it as they don't have run out of resources, and Elion is moving to take the Castle back."

The Emperor had very little reaction to the news, "Oh, so we lost Sternbright, and what of the status of the Red Tower Master?"

"He was wounded, sir!"

"Which means he's alive?"

"Yes!"

Fury slowly brewed in the Emperor's eyes before he responded.

"Two failures it seems, but everything else is going well. Go back and call a meeting. I need time to think."

"Right away, Imperial Majesty!" When the messenger left the Emperor sat in a chair in his room before grimacing, "The Red Tower Master and the Blue Tower Master are alive. One escaped while damaging my army, and the other had a total victory. Both of them are the peskiest of my competitors. Lyla, that bitch. She is the biggest problem with our naval advancement. If she enters the sea, she'd even be annoying for me to deal with. We can't utilize our navy as long as she lives. Darien, the vexing lizard is like an annoying little Dragon. His magic is deadly for my armies or my generals. The only competition I have that could reach the level of Archmage at least for the element of fire." The Emperor started tapping his chair as he thought, "Who to deal with first?" He continued to plan in his mind his course of action before getting out of his chair. He walked to his door and kicked it open; the knights standing on either side of his chambers instantly got down on one knee. They shouted, "IMPERIAL MAJESTY!"

He ignored them as he walked towards the War room in the castle with the knights quickly following him. When he arrived the war room was already full of people debating and arguing. "There are always setbacks in every war! We can expect a total victory at this rate!" "Ridiculous how could Sternbright fail so miserably!" "Haven't you ever heard not to speak poorly of the dead?" "At least Gaelus won his battle! Elion is as good as lost now!" The war room was filled with Generals, advisors, strategists, and communication crystals with frontline leaders set about everywhere in the war room. The room froze as the Emperor walked in, they shouted, "IMPERIAL MAJESTY!" The Emperor walked to the chair set at the center of the table and sat down.

"I want a brief explanation of our current status on all fronts, Dylan."

"Lucius, it seems as though this war has been a failure so far."

Zephias shouted from the communication crystal, "Ridiculous! Failure? Failure? We've crushed Lome! We've conquered half of the Dil Republic! I'm currently sitting on the throne of the Ayes Monarchy, and even with the tragedy of our battle in Elion, we still conquered their strongest stronghold! Everything we've done has been nothing but victories so far!" "He's right!" Multiple members blurted out in agreement before the Emperor spoke again, "Dylan, continue."

"Lome isn't crushed as long as the Blue Tower Master lives. The Dil Republic was on the verge of civil war, and the fact that we've only conquered half of the republic so far is a clear under-utilization of their political situation, not to mention Jamie Vallas still lives. Zephias, you've managed to conquer Ayes, and I would say good work, but their Royal family has escaped. All you've done is conquer a bomb, if you get lax for even a second or show any weaknesses to be exploited Ayes will come back stronger than ever behind their royal family. And Elion? Do you say Elion was a victory? Are you insane? Do you know how many troops we have remaining in Elion? Less than thirty thousand! They stood against our army with a tenth of our forces, and Darien managed to defend the Black Castle for a week! He managed to kill Sternbright and escape! It's a disaster unprecedented in our history. So yes I can say confidently that our war so far has been a failure." The room grew quiet as the Emperor spoke, "Success is only built on failures Dylan. Where do you think should we focus our attention?"

Stolen story; please report.

Dylan spoke confidently, "Ayes." The room was filled with murmuring before Zephaias yelled, "Are you saying I've failed in my mission? The Royal family is being hunted down! It's only a matter of time before we find them."

Alina Dawnbright the Emperor's sister roared, "Zephaias if you keep acting like a fool, I'll be the one to kill you, not my brother! Must you be so arrogant that you can't listen when others speak!"

"Sister, calm yourself. Zephaias can be painfully ambitious, but he does his job well. I'll always put up with Zephaias as long he brings results, however, I believe Dylan is right. You have one week to find the Royal family on your own; otherwise, I'll assign someone else to help with Ayes." Zephaias bit his lips before saying, "Yes, your majesty!"

"Sister, the Dil Republic is sneakier than I suspected. They managed to end their squabbling efficiently in the face of impending doom. Vallas, that damn cockroach took an opportunity and managed to pull the great families together under his banner. The infighting is practically over and would be difficult to take advantage of currently. I take responsibility for not taking better advantage of the Dil Republic. My impatience and lack of planning have caused a standstill. I'm thankful I chose you for this mission otherwise it could have ended as poorly as Elion."

"Of course brother, I don't intend to rush straight off a cliff."

"Build strongholds and take control of the land we have occupied. Let's slow the war down a bit. We will defend the land in the Dil Republic for now while focusing our attention on other places. Sister, when you can reliably hold the land you've taken I need you to come back to the Capital so that we can find another place for you to go." "Yes, brother!"

"Dylan, is there anything else you recommend?" "Lucius, I think we should either attack Elion now with the full force we can muster and face backlash from Lome and the Dil Republic or we immediately retreat. We can bring their fortress to the ground before leaving and just cut off our losses. If we can get Ayes completely under our control without anything glaring or brewing underneath the surface there, then I believe we'll be able to strike Elion safely from all fronts in the future. Taking care of the Blue Tower Master and the Dil Republic are higher priorities." Cole, the Dark Tower Master spoke for the first time, "Careful Lord."

"Cole, do you have a suggestion?"

"Just be careful."

"Careful of what?"

"Of spreading our attention to too many places. Lord, we have an opportunity now to focus our attention on any one of the four powers. If we focus our full intent on a target then we won't get lost in the failures, and we'll instead be focused on success."

"Insolence."

"Oh shut up, Nova."

The Emperor sighed before cutting off the two, "Stop now before I get angry. Well said, Cole." The Emperor closed his eyes and set his hand on his chin while thinking. He sat in silence for over a minute before speaking, "Destroy the Black Castle and send the survivors to Ayes to help widen the search for the Royal family. Send reinforcements to the borders of Ayes and Elion, and don't let Elion retaliate and step in. Let's make sure we don't get too greedy for our prey. We'll focus our attention on Lome and Ayes while holding a stand-off in Elion and the Dil Republic."

"Yes, Imperial Majesty!"

"It looks like our biggest headaches are all still alive. If we can manage to remove the threat of golems in Lome then at least we'll have succeeded in something. Meeting dismissed."

The Emperor left the room while Dylan followed right behind him out of the meeting room. Dylan Argarian the head knight of the Empire was the only one in the meeting room who could get away with calling the Emperor by his given name. They walked to a balcony looking out into the Imperial Square.

"Lucius."

"Yes, Dylan."

"The opinion I'm giving now Lord isn't based on logic or reason it's just, just a feeling."

The Emperor smirked before saying, "A feeling, huh?"

"I believe we should strike Elion hard right now. My instincts are telling me that if we don't take care of Darien now, he will grow into a threat we can't ignore like the Blue Tower Master in the Sea. He'll be an equal threat on the land. I think our attack could stimulate him to grow."

"We all know he has the potential to grow into an archmage, at least of fire, but one stimulating event is unlikely to produce that event. If we apply a lot of pressure on Elion, I could see that happening."

"The fact that he managed to kill Sternbright and injure your brother while achieving what he did is a miracle in itself. He can't be just a powerful mage he has to be a decent strategist or have one around him. Sternbright is about as difficult to kill as I am."

"I agree, but I think your advice was sound in the meeting not to waste our resources and only strike when we have a favorable situation."

"I know your majesty, but I must say my gut is telling me that Elion will be our biggest headache more than Vallas more than the Blue Tower Master, more than war Golems or the money from the Merchants alliance. I think the biggest variable we aren't considering or are unaware of is going to come from there."

The Emperor put his hands on his head and thought deeply for a few minutes without saying a word.

"I agree, and I've already made arrangements."

"Lord?"

The Emperor pulled out an envelope and handed it to him. Dylan read through the letter before frowning. "You've mobilized Red and Blue in Elion?"

"I have. They've come up with an interesting plan."

"If they fail they might make Darien an even bigger threat than an archmage! Emperor, you know that powerful emotions can also lead to rapid growth! This is especially true for volatile mages like fire mages, who rely heavily on their emotions! This plan is a double-edged sword!"

"I also agree with your sentiment which is why I secretly sent Green to Renee as a watcher. She will simply record and watch what happens without getting involved at all."

"Three of the Seekers? You're investing a lot of resources into Elion."

"Dylan you aren't the only one with this bad feeling. The stronger your magic the stronger your instincts become. I can feel something lurking in Elion. I never ignore my instincts or the instincts of those around me. I'm putting more resources into Elion than the other places because I view them as our biggest headache more than everything else. I sent Sternbright, to begin with because I wanted to gather information. I never thought our Iron Fortress would fall in battle."

"I understand."

The Emperor looked out into the sky and thought to himself, "What exactly are you hiding, Elion?"