CHAPTER 26: ELYSIA ATHAS P5
~26.5~
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“A few years ago, I stood before you and introduced myself as Elysia Athas.” Kye curtsied as she spoke. “However, I must amend that.” She began weaving aether and flooded the room with it, transforming the parlor-styled room into one of pure white. “I ask that you forgive the theatrics. I do enjoy them.”
Several raised an eyebrow while others began to question her, only to receive a silent “no” from Atalante. The council watched as the room transformed. The walls and ceiling disappeared entirely, and the floor transformed into a circle of white stone. What appeared in place of the walls and ceiling was the same view Eve showed Layla and Hannah before. The table disappeared, and a throne of white stone formed. Kye sat upon the throne. Another soon formed next to her for Alethea.
“You all know who Elysia is, to an extent. The first being created by Eve the Primordial. That is not a lie. However, it’s a little misleading. I was born naturally. Eve is my biological mother.” She glanced at Layla. “As is Layla. Different bodies, different mothers... same me. Some of you knew, now all of you know.”
“Where are we?” her father asked. “I do not recognize this scenery. These structures are enormous, and that’s saying nothing of the... I’m not sure what word to use to describe how large those structures are in the far distance.”
“Welcome, council, to Greater Elysium.” Kye smiled and gestured above her. “And welcome to the City of Athas, capital of Elysium. I am Elysia Athas, King of Elysium. This beautiful lady next to me...”
Alethea nodded and smiled. “I am Maya Athas, Queen of Elysium.”
“There are others that might...” Kye shook her head. “No, nevermind.” She glanced at Alethea. “I should contact Luma, huh?” Alethea nodded, and Kye quickly messaged Luma. The entire world was buzzing with excitement after the system was re-enabled and they could access their NeuraPhones again. Luma responded quickly, and Kye created a portal to bring her to the illusion coated council chamber.
“Oh wow, I haven’t seen this view in a long time,” Luma said after stepping through the portal. “So, you remember?” Kye nodded. “King?” Kye nodded again. “I see. So what bomb are you dropping on these poor mortals this time?”
“The identity of the entity I came here to eliminate.”
“So this entity is an ancient like you?” Atalante asked.
Kye had just finished explaining the identity of her target. She was assigned a mission before entering the ten realms of Elysium to hunt down a certain entity with little to no information. She didn’t know at the time, but since recovering her memories, it all became clear. “Yes.”
“And this ancient is from a different civilization?” Layla asked. “What do we even call a civilization such as Elysium? Elysium as a whole, now that you’ve laid out exactly what it is, is massive beyond imagination for most people. And you’re saying there’s other civilizations out there on that scale?”
“Uh...” Kye’s eyes wandered to Alethea.
The pink-haired girl sighed. “Yeah, alright. You always did like to pawn off some of it.” She glanced around the room briefly. “Yeah, there are others. Satellites, if you will. I can’t share certain details, so the short version. Elysium has something the others don’t have, and Lord Adaal, Governor of Olympus, wanted it. So, one day, he came for it.”
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“What does Elysium have that’s so special?” Atalante asked.
It wasn’t Kye or Alethea that answered, but Allison. “They can’t say.”
“So, a cryptic ‘we have something cool that the other guy wants and he waged war for it’?” Alexandra said.
“Pretty much, that’s the most we can say about it,” Alethea said.
“Anyway, that’s the gist of it. But, I believe Adaal isn’t the enemy, but just an unfortunate pawn to sow internal discord. You see, Adaal is the governor of one of the five satellite civilizations orbiting Elysium. The entity is the responsible party, and it is known as ‘Phantom’.” Kye shook her head and looked at her father. “This entity has trailed me since the living world. I believe the man I knew as Shiro Shikigami was yet another pawn of Phantom, not Phantom itself. And the entire existence of demon beasts is from Phantom’s magic.”
“Which is?” King Zen asked.
“I’ll simply refer to it as Phantom Magic to make this simple.” Kye cleared her throat and looked around. Everyone had their eyes on her. She nodded and created an illusion to demonstrate. “Imagine a soul.” A featureless silhouette appeared with a gentle green glow inside it shaped in a loose sphere. “Phantom Magic can do several things. One is to create a phantom of something that is intangible, but visible. This phantom can interact with some objects by use of mana or even allow the original to become intangible in its place. For example...”
Another silhouette appeared with a sword. A sword appeared in the first’s hand, and the two exchanged a few blows.
“Now with phantom magic...”
The second silhouette began to glow dark purple and swung its sword again. The first blocked, but the dark purple coated sword phased right through. An afterimage of the dark purple coated sword remained where it blocked the first’s sword, but the actual blade continued and slashed the silhouette.
“That is an example of Phantom Magic in combat. It is very difficult to counter if you don’t know what you’re doing, and still not a simple matter if you do.” Kye erased the second and restored the first. “Now, watch what happens when Phantom Magic is used on the soul.”
The gentle green soul was suddenly warped by dark purple mana, and the silhouette changed. It became less human and more beast-like.
“A real life example of this is the existence of demon beasts. They are demon people, warped by phantom magic. I realized it a few years ago when I fought them in my first year. At the time, I didn’t know why, but with my memories... everything makes sense.”
“What the hell?” came the voices of several council members.
“Kye, can this be reversed?” asked Apollyon, the King of Daemonheim. Now knowing that the beasts are his own people, his outlook on the demon beast problem changed.
“Yes.” She erased the illusion and casted a spell with silver coated white mana. “My magic can heal them, but it will require a very significant amount of time for even the weakest of demon beasts. It would take a few thousand years as I am now to heal an S Class. I could heal a G Class in days, a D Class in months, a B Class in decades, or an A Class in centuries. Souls are not simple to manipulate. It would be more prudent to come up with a better technique.” She shot her eyes at Atalante.
Atalante was taken aback, unsure of what Kye could possibly want. “Yes?”
“Rune magic may be the answer. I would have to cast the spell, but with the proper set of runes, we could have virtually anyone power it, and virtually any number of people participate. Two people could feasibly take half the time or less, and every additional person would reduce it further.”
Atalante nodded. “I see. It’s feasible. I’ll need your help to devise a rune to do the main part, but the rest are already created.”
Kye nodded. “Right. We should work together on this as much as possible without adding stress to our daily lives.”
“I agree,” Apollyon said. “This needs to be done right. Rushing it is not the way. I will update my military with the information they need to know and have them shift from kill to stall tactics.”
Kye nodded. “Good. Your people are my people. All of Elysium is my responsibility. I’ll see this done.” She snapped her fingers and all the illusions faded away, returning the council to the council room. “In the meantime, I need to go see a certain pair of redheads and interrogate them, then get ready for the new school year. Everyone, you are dis...” she glanced over at Atalante and quickly gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, old habits.”
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Revision: 2024-8-25