Chapter 223.

PART 1.

Avinash reads the report of Suresh. It took a while to reach him since it had to go through proper channels and travel at such a long distance. But now it is in his hands, and he is unsure what to do.

Raven is not here, and Zeko and Porus are also not here. so he goes to his father and explains the whole situation to him.

“Well,” said Amarnath. “You can at least listen to the man. there is no harm in that.”

“You’re right.” agreed Avinash.

He then leaves to arrange for the prisoner named Meng Hao to be transferred to the City of Throne, where he can meet him.

For now, he keeps this away from the court. He will bring this before them, once he has an idea of what Hao has to say for himself. Transported through an airship, Meng Hao arrives in the city, where Avinash is ready to meet him.

The man looks unremarkable. If it weren’t for the power that Avinash senses coiled within his body, he would have thought of him as nothing but a common researcher from an academy. but the man is quite shrouded, unlike his appearance would suggest.

“So,” said Avinash. “You are the man who wishes to become the new emperor, and claim the Dragon Throne?”

“Yes,” said Meng Hao bluntly. “And unlike other warlords who are vying for the same thing, I do have the necessary resources to get there.”

“And yet, you have not done it until now,” said Avinash.

“They have managed to keep me away from the capital.” Grumbled Hao. “I was working on it, making some deals within their circle that I crashed in your area. Your soldiers picked me up after the latest incursion from the Zhongguo failed.”

“Speaking of that,” said Avinash, suddenly increasing the pressure on Meng Hao, “What if you are involved with it? what if you never stop those once we help you?”

Meng Hao resisted the pressure, even though his magic was sealed. He glared right in the eyes of Avinash and said to him. “I have no intention of overlooking the help you might provide. Besides, it is in our best interest to cooperate with each other, rather than fight.”

The pressure disappears from Meng Hao’s body, and he starts to breathe easier. “Very well. I too desire a peaceful relation, somewhat like what Porus had with Zuo Chi.”

“Then you will help me?” asked Hao.

“Not so fast. Do you have a plan for defeating your enemies? I will not put my bets on a fool who charges recklessly.” Said Avinash.

“Yes. the economy has taken a bad hit during the entire civil war. The public is restless. Using my resources, I plan to help them and win their support. From there, I will ruin the other warlords, and then take the throne for myself.” Said Meng Hao. “I even have a five-point plan for this.” He said, fishing out the said plan from his pocket.

“Interesting.” Said Avinash, after looking over the plan. “I will help you, just arrange a meeting with your supporters. We must coordinate with them if you wish to take the throne.”

Meng Hao smiled. “It is the start of a beautiful friendship.” He said, extending his hand.

Avinash shook the hand while listening to the knife being sharpened in the future.

PART 2.

On the ship where Hatori is stationed, not much is happening. Josh is on the Malay ship with Porus and Zeko as his backups, negotiating with a guy about whom Hatori cares nothing. His friends have gotten involved in politics quite deeply, but he plans to stay away from it as much as possible.

‘Why do I get the feeling that I am going to fail at this?’ he thinks to himself, before shaking his head and restarting his story.

He is regaling the sailors with his stories from the time when as a part of the Subcontinental team, they were lost in the world and tried to get back to the Subcontinent through the sea. Some of the sailors are shaking their heads at the bad decisions they keep making, while others are sympathizing with them. The sea is not a great place to lose your way, especially if you are nineteen.

Just when Hatori was done with telling them how exactly they dealt with the pharaoh of Kemet, who is now dead and acquired another ship for themselves, a large wave collides with their ship, and everyone has to watch out for their footing to make sure they do not fall.

The wave does not collapse. Unlike other waves of water, it remained collected and came to collide with their ship once again. A face appears from the water and smiles at them. “Dammit! Everyone, prepare the crafts. We don’t have anyone to deal with this guy.” said the captain.

“Yeah, you do.” Said Hatori, and much to their amazement, flies in the air.

From his position in the air, he bombards the wave with fire magic. but it does not have any effect. but it catches the attention of the mage who is controlling this massive volume of water.

“You will have to do better than this boy, mere flames are not enough to destroy me, especially when I have an endless supply of water!” said the mage, while sending a tendril of water after Hatori to capture him.

Avoiding that tendril, Hatori decides another tactic. He freezes the water around the wave, and slowly starts to freeze the water which is making up this wave. The face twists in a grimace, as he did not expect to deal with someone who has knowledge of multiple elements under their belt.

Heating up the water, he melts the eyes. Hatori cursed, as a fist of water punched his gut when he got too close while thinking that his enemy was weakened and close to a finish. Another arm of water comes to catch him, but Hatori avoids it.

“Pesky fly! You will not escape Bujang for too long!” declares the mage inside of the water wave, and goes after Hatori.

“Talking in the third person is a sign of madness.” Said Hatori from the sky, while freezing more water around Bujang.

True, he melts through the ice, but Hatori can create very thick layers of ice, given the amount of water available. While Bujang cannot attack him while he is dealing with the ice, and trying to prevent himself from being frozen.

As if the problems for Bujang are not enough, he finally takes some damage in the fight for the first time, when Hatori uses lightning. “Garg!” he howled in agony, as the saltwater around him conducted the electricity to his body, and bypassed his measures.

“Here’s another shock for you,” said Hatori with a nasty grin, as he prepared a positive lightning shot.

The screams of pain echo all over the sea, as Bujang is fried from the electricity. The wave starts to collapse, and Hatori starts to return to the ship. “Should have used lightning from the beginning.” He muttered.

But Bujang was not dead. He will die shortly, as he will sink underwater, and his fried body will not let him control the water. but with his final remaining breath, he redirected the tendril of water at Hatori who stopped paying attention to him, and after yanking him from the air, threw the man into a large wave in a random direction.

The waves push at Hatori, and the ship is lost. he senses some land nearby, so after controlling the chaotic water around him, Hatori crashes on this small island with a large splash of water.

After drying himself in the sun, he wonders to himself. “Don’t tell me I am lost at the sea once again?” he grumbled to himself. The worst thing is that he has no one to accompany him this time.

Fortunately for Hatori, the ship on which he was stationed arrives there, and rescues him from that island. “Good job you did there.” said the captain. “Do not do it again.”

“Sure.” Said Hatori, “I’ve got no interest in getting lost in the sea again.”

“Wise.” Agreed the captain. “However, it was a good thing you saved us there. Those Malays probably meant to twist our arms in the negotiation by attacking us like that.”

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Hatori agreed with that assessment of the captain. In his room in the night, he smiles, as his body sparks with lightning. While he was alone on that island, he meditated.

Maybe it was all the salt coating his body, but he was able to channel lightning through his whole body. from his legs to his arms, to even his brain and heart. While he is not close to turning himself into lightning like the sorcerer who is considered to be the greatest master of the element could do, he is one step closer to his goal.

PART 3.

Josh is drinking some tea to calm his nerves. Akshit is with him, trying to console him. “As Sagar would say, you win some, you lose some.” He said to Josh.

“He is right. but it sucks when others try to bully you, even though you are trying to establish peace.” Muttered Josh.

“Come now. did you expect anything else?” asked Akshit. “Get over it. this is not a school where things are fair.”

“I know.” Said Josh.

PART 4.

Awang is sitting with the general Atiputera. They are feeling quite certain that the Subcontinent will concede to their demands. The threat of old Porus, and past his prime Zeko is not enough to scare them.

“Do you think we should start making plans for when they admit to our demands?” asked Awang.

“Not yet.” Said the general. “Victory is almost in our grasp. But until we get it, we should not celebrate it.”

“Wise of you general.” Said Awang. “What would I do without your guidance?” he smirked.

“You cheeky disrespectful--!” suddenly, one aid comes in, with a panicked look on his face.

He whispers in the ears of Atiputera, and then the general sports the same look. “What happened?” asked Awang, losing all the playfulness in his tone.

“One man took out Bujang.” Said the general.

“You cannot be serious.” Said Awang. “The guy who single-handedly sank whole navel groups is taken out by a man?”

“It is true.” Said the general. “They have retrieved his body.”

Awang goes with the general to pay respect to the legendary mage from their land. After his body is wrapped in the flag, and put in the airship to his home, where the last rights will be performed, the general and Awang look at each other.

“Who was it?” he asked in a daze.

“Apparently, it was all Zeko’s student’s doing.” Said the general.

“Can we take revenge?” asked Awang.

“What will be the point? it won’t bring my friend back.” Said Atiputera sadly. “Besides, those Albions are circling around us like vultures. They might be promising to help us now, but they are bound to fight with us sooner or later. If they want to suppress this continent, they will have to contend with our navy. I’m sure they know about it.”

“I’ll go agree to the demands of the Subcontinent then.” Sighed Awang.

PART 5.

Once Josh is done with his tea, his teleporter device activates. Letters one after another start to come out, until Josh is buried up to his waist in all those letters. When Akshit saw this, he could not help but roar with laughter.

“Shut up, and get me out of here!” said Josh, trying to move, but unable to do so because of the weight of the papers he is trapped under.

“Well, at least they admit to our demands.” Said Akshit, helping out Josh.

“Yeah,” said Josh. “I wonder what changed their mind?”

PART 6.

Justice, Victoria, and Alan meet once again, feeling dejected. “Honestly, why do we even bother? Each and every effort we have tried so far has been thwarted by that damn country.” Said Victoria, getting frustrated by their lack of success.

“I agree with her.” Said Alan. “It is getting out of hand. Albus is proving to be quite useless.”

Justice considers what his colleagues have said. If Alan is also losing his patience, then things are getting quite dire. “There is only one plan that remains for us.”

“What is it?” they ask, leaning forward in interest.

“Draw the king out, and then assassinate him,” said Justice. “They were fighting each other and running around like headless chickens when Porus was not on the throne. If we kill the young king…”

“Then they will be plunged into chaos. The peace is quite fragile after all.” Said Alan.

“Exactly.” Said Justice. “Now, how to do it?”

The discussion continues long into the night. but the author decided to drop it because he did not wish to increase his page count. Saving the digital trees is quite important after all. Besides, a larger chapter takes up more space on the server.

PART 7.

Meng Hao arranges a meeting with Avinash and his supporters. They are going to speak over the long-distance mirror. The minister of Economics, Sagar Patel is serving as a representative of the court, and apart from him, Avinash and Meng Hao are the only ones in the room. outside, Tom is guarding the room, and making sure that no one enters without permission. Avinash has given him blanket permission to come and tell him if a problem beyond his authority arises.

“Greetings King Avinash.” Said an old-looking man. “I am Li Chen. Together with me are two more supporters of Meng Hao, those being Liu Bao, and Dong Tuna.”

Avinash barely held his laughter together. Thankfully, his expression is not easily seen clearly over the mirror. But Meng Hao is giving him a side glance. He perfectly knows what is going on in the mind of this young king.

“First of all, we would like to know.” Said Chen. “Is Meng Hao kept as a prisoner?”

“No,” said Avinash. “I think you will believe his words better than my own, however.”

“I am not imprisoned.” Said Hao. “The king would have never agreed to speak with you otherwise.”

“Correct.” Said Chen. “Meng Hao has also told me of what you have discussed. If you would share the details with us?”

Avinash agreed. Meng Hao filled in the details, and Sagar listened to make sure he would not insert something to which they had not agreed upon previously. “Very well. since you wish to know of our resources, let me tell you.” Then the old man launches into the explanation of how large their army is, their economy, and the area they occupy.

“What seems to me, is that you need to break the stronghold over the capital. Otherwise, all your resources are useless.” Said Avinash. “I offer my assistance for this, but the rest will be up to you.”

“Very well,” said Dong Tuna. “But what kind of assistance will this be including?”

The discussions continue in this manner. Avinash refuses to commit anything before Raven returns, and he discusses the military portion of this. But a draft of an agreement is hashed out during this meeting.

They also made an agreement on which date to send Meng Hao back to them.

PART 8.

It is time for the winter festival now. under the guise of various experts and visiting faculties, several people successfully sneaked inside.

The only thing which now they have to do is to get in contact with the students who are sympathetic to their cause and recruit them for their task.

The Academy will not be able to take this attack from inside, as even some professors have joined their side.

PART 9.

The time of Hatori on the ship comes to an end. Josh and Akshit have returned to the land, and with their negotiations done, their job is also done.

As soon as he makes it to the land, Hatori gets a mirror call from Raven. “Listen. You have another important assignment.”

“What is it?” asked Hatori.

“You need to prepare and go to Deutschland with the king.”

“Dammit. Back to that cursed continent.” Grumbled Hatori.

“Yeah, keep quiet about it,” said Raven.

“I will. But will the king? he had the same experiences as me there.” said Hatori.

“Leave that for him to decide. You must guard him; I smell foul play here,” said Raven.

“On that, we both agree.” Said Hatori, turning off the mirror.