The next day, Erika Sage had since said her farewells to the lawmakers and executive branch members of the United States government.

Her royal jet cruised across the Atlantic and began to cruise over the Heraklinos Empire. She motioned for her attendant, “I have an unscheduled stop to make. Take me to the Saber Fortress. I need a word with Lord Heraklinos.”

Erika was irate. The night before, Jacek had returned her call late. Very late. Several hours after her initial call.

She thought to herself stewing in anger, “I finally reach out to him to resume our dating, and what does he do? He throws it in my face! He even had the gall to break up with me and promptly hang up on me. All while General BloodStar is there for a ‘sparring’ match.”

She looked out the window, “I am going to lose my mind if he broke up with me for her!”

The attendant came back after checking with the Saber Fortress flight control, “Master Sage, the Saber Fortress is not accepting incoming flights at this moment but-“

Erika cut him off mid-sentence, “You tell them I am coming with or without their consent, and I have a mandatory meeting with Jacek! Tell them I plan to be arriving within the hour!”

The attendant bowed his head, “Yes, Master Sage. We will land within the hour as you say.”

For the remainder of the flight, she stewed on her thoughts, “We are meant to be together! The Heraklinos family and the Sage family are allies throughout history, and we are the future of the families! I will not have him break up with me, and I will certainly not allow him to date that harlot BloodStar!”

Her thoughts raced and before she knew it, they had landed at the Saber Fortress. She had purposefully worn one of her more provocative dresses knowing that she was arriving to win her boyfriend back. The dress she had chosen was an identical one to the dress Xenia had worn the night before.

She dismounted the plane to find several Saber Fortress soldiers present to greet her. They couldn’t help but note her dress and immediately compare it to how Xenia wore it.

Erika barked, “Where is he?”

A captain responded, “Lord Heraklinos will receive you in the command center.”

Erika then looked to the side to see a jet-black fighter jet on the runway with two people standing beside it. A pilot and Jacek!

Erika turned to the captain and said, “He will receive me now!”

The captain dared not stop a head of state from seeking out his Lord. It was not his place to do so; however, he also knew, the events to unfold were going to be very messy.

Erika briskly walked over to Jacek and the pilot; however, as she approached, she noted that the pilot was none other than General Xenia BloodStar. She noted Xenia to have on a full flight suit and aviator sunglasses as she was seemingly prepared to take flight on her own.

Erika approached softly as she greeted Xenia, “General BloodStar, leaving already?”

Xenia eyed Erika sharply and said, “I have missed many meetings and have many more to hopefully catch in the United States. How are my allies? I understand you met my good friend Constance Khan?”

Erika nodded, “Indeed, I have. I also have you to thank for your understanding regarding the Carillium.”

Xenia smiled at her, “The last thing we need is war between our families and our allies. It wasn’t even a successful assassination, so there is no need to take drastic measures against anyone.”

Erika curtsied, “You have my empire’s thanks.” She then continued, “If you don’t mind, General BloodStar, I have quite a lot of private matters I wish to discuss with Lord Heraklinos.”

Xenia knew exactly what private matters she sought to discuss, so she left in the most aggressive way she could think of. She looked to Erika and said, “I was just on my way.”

Xenia then looked to Jacek and said, “Wasn’t I, darling?” Xenia then pulled Jacek close and gave him a long, slow kiss with her hand on his chin.

Jacek gave minimal effort in the kiss feigning disinterest and broke it off as quickly as possible. He then nodded as she began to ascend to her jet’s cockpit.

Erika grit her teeth in rage as her face turned red. She waved politely as she watched Xenia fasten her helmet before performing her jet’s patented vertical takeoff.

Erika had little choice but to bare the kiss she had just seen while Xenia was present. Xenia had after all granted her clemency regarding the assassination attempt. Furthermore, Erika was technically dating Jacek no longer. Erika’s position was quite unenviable, and she had never been more furious at a set of circumstances.

Once Xenia had cleared the skies, Erika turned to Jacek and began yelling, “You broke up with me, so you could begin to date Xenia BloodStar! Do you know what you’ve done!?”

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Jacek sternly responded, “You are the one who put us on a break. You are the one who neglected my calls and messages. What did you think would happen? And we aren’t dating.”

Erika fumed, “I didn’t think you would go and kiss our families’ sworn enemy! Have you any idea what this will do to the political landscape going forward?”

Jacek didn’t give much thought to politics ever. He tried to revel in battle as much as possible. What he did know was that the girl before him was nothing like the strong, powerful, confident, and sexy woman he spent the night with last night.

Erika continued, “Our families require that we date for the stability of the world, Jacek. To do anything else puts the stability of the world at risk. And to spite me in favor of a BloodStar… you might as well be courting war with the world!”

Jacek responded with a bit of lively emotion of his own, “Xenia is not her mother, Empress Victoria! She is a humanitarian saint in the United States. She saved my men from certain death during an ambush yesterday. And she has even saved your neck in this nasty assassination plot stemming from your mines! She is casually averting war at every step. Not seeking it!”

Erika scoffed, “Her family knows the art of war better than anyone. That is always their goal. She is allies with the United States! The United States! A democratic republic! The very form of government you seek to squash in battle every day in the Saber Province. You can’t fight democratic rebels and date someone who supports their cause. Your legitimacy will fade in the eyes of your people.”

Jacek had no response. He knew she was right, but he wasn’t ready to admit it openly. He merely said, “You may be a Master of your empire at such a young age, but I am the Lord of this province, and I respectfully ask you to leave at once.”

Erika’s rage had reached a boiling point, and she yelled at him, “I am leaving this instant! But know this!... The second I get on that plane, I am calling your Dad to tell him everything.” She then turned and began to march towards her large royal private jet.

Jacek called after her, “Good! You and he can deliberate on how to keep the status quo in the world. I will keep working to move it forward!”

Erika continued to walk away and quickly ascended into her jet. She didn’t look back once as the door to her jet sealed shut.

Jacek turned to walk back to the command center. He was ready to stand his ground against Erika and his Dad both. He firmly believed the BloodStar Empire could be a pillar of world peace moving forward. Furthermore, he wasn’t keen on discontinuing his interest in Xenia so easily. Not after the night they just had together. In fact, he couldn’t wait until he saw her again.

____________________________________________________

Elsewhere, in Washington D.C. of the United States, President Monroe addressed a small committee including Vice President Morrow, Senator Hammond, Senator Davis, Master Chief Washington, and a handful of other senators and military leaders.

“I have called you here today to form a war committee. As the commander-in-chief of our armed forces, we need to be nimble if we are to plan to defend our country from both the North and the South.” The president looked around the room and continued, “I have asked you all here because you are the nation’s strongest leaders, and I value your input. I will hand things over to Master Chief Washington to bring everyone up to speed on the latest developments.”

Master Chief Washington stood and walked over to a large monitor. He said, “Thank you Mr. President.” He then clicked a remote and brought up a map of North America. “The Karasu Clan has made their intentions clear. They wish to one day control the entirety of the United States with the intent of ascending to master family status with Master Ninja Karasu at the helm. Everyone will recall, they have already acted on this ambition albeit with little success.”

John Washington then clicked again to raise a picture of Nero battling Corvus, “Thanks to Princess BloodStar, the Karasu Clan has been hesitant to make their next move. There is no guarantee that the BloodStar Empire would ride to our side in war; however, the Ru-Shai-Ra will likely wait things out seeing as Nero is a superb ki user and warrior. He also poses a huge threat to their existence should they engage us.”

John clicked the remote again to bring up a zoomed in map of Texas with the border highlighted to demarcate it from what was once known as ‘Mexico’. He pointed to the map and said, “To our south, the Holy Light Theocracy has begun to rattle their sabers in meaningful fashion.”

Hammond piped up in the dark room, “The Holy Light Theocracy has no reason to attack us. What is their problem? The status quo has been maintained. We have healthy trade with them and good relations.”

John clicked the remote to show the next images, “Here are images from El Paso and San Antonio in the recent weeks. Holy Light missionaries have been using their churches on our soil to recruit our citizens into their religion, a radical denomination of Christianity. This is harmless in and of itself; however, recently there have been reports of Holy Light missionaries killing those who refuse. Furthermore, the rhetoric coming from their nation’s leader, Pope Gregory the Bright, has been less than encouraging.”

Vice President Morrow stood as John took his seat, “The latest intel from our spy operations suggests that the Holy Light Theocracy plans to outright attack our border states starting with Texas. Pope Gregory himself has even stated officially that the United States culture is an insult to God and fraught with sin.”

Hammond chuckled to himself, “Should someone remind them we are allied with the BloodStar Empire? Who in their right mind would want to face the BloodStars in battle?”

A general spoke to answer Hammond, “Overnight reports in my branch are showing the Princess to have aided Jacek Heraklinos in fighting off rebellion forces in the Saber Province. Democratic rebellion forces. Time will tell if she remains our ally in a world gone mad against democracy.”

President Monroe cried out, “What! She did what?!” He was visibly disturbed and said, “Well no wonder the Holy Light empire is so keen on testing our ally’s commitment to us.” He then stood up and pointed at Senator Davis, “Arthur! Get to the bottom of this immediately. You have the best rapport with Princess BloodStar. When can you contact her?”

Davis shook his head affirmatively, “She is flying here right now. But gentlemen and ladies, Princess BloodStar is committed to us, I assure you. However, there is quite a difference in aiding a Master Family in their rebellion and participating in open war against a Master Family empire. She would be happy to provide us with an endless flow of humanitarian aid. However, understandably, she is cautious to enter in to official wars. She is trying to repair a century’s worth of bad reputation regarding wars.”

Monroe barked to Davis, “Find her upon her arrival. Contact her now. Find out her intentions. Find out what it would take for her to aid us with military support. It goes without saying that we would fall rather quickly against the Holy Light Theocracy in all-out war.”

Davis stood up and took his phone in hand, “I will contact her now.”

However, before he could walk out of the room to call her, his phone began to ring. He took one look at the phone and then addressed the room, “It looks like she is already contacting me.”