When Principal Khan focused his strength on saving all of the students from the falling academy, he made sure that nobody would be left behind. In mere moments, he conjured up enough Golden Chariots to carry all of the students off the island, with John and Shaila riding one at the front, leading them down towards one of the tropical islands down below.
Taking one last look at the falling island, Khan noticed the handful of students still trying to save it, and he forced himself to turn around. The chariots for them were still left behind, but he needed to take care of the majority of the evacuated students first.
John and Shaila may have plenty of experience as leaders thanks to their time at the Union, but at this time, the panicking students needed someone like Principal Khan. They needed someone who’s at the level of the Ten Heavenly Pillars.
Isn’t that ironic, though? With how easily Mus Ongaku forced his hand to choose one thing to save. Principal Khan wondered, feeling the breeze as his own special-made chariot followed the trails of the other hundreds upon hundreds of golden chariots.
Then, that was when suddenly the floating island started falling down towards the Eastern Continent. However, by then, Principal Khan had already gone ahead to meet with John and Shaila towards the front, leaving the fate of the island literally up in the air.
“Noland…” John said, massaging his bruised arms as he approached them, “That’s what we get for wanting to deal with the devil, right?”
“I suppose so.” Principal Khan said, his chariot coming to a halt overground before he leaped out from within, “But most of the others. They will only know of my oversight. They will not know of what happened up there.”
“What are you suggesting…?” John asked, his eyes widening.
“PORA have gotten what they wanted.” Principal Khan continued, “I thought…by having you there working with them as my agent, we could take advantage of the new world order. But with the Revolutionary Manuscript activating all around the world, it won’t be long before they control everything. You two, and the rest of the students, need to go into hiding as soon as you can.”
“What about you?”
“I will return to the Ten Heavenly Pillars, and find out about those who were PORA sympathizers.” Principal Khan said, his fist clenched, “I…only ever cared for the Academy, and now that they have destroyed it just to set an example…”
“And about the world’s leaders.” John said, his fingers now glowing as he drew a pattern of lines in the air, “I made sure that they wouldn’t remember a thing.”
With a single injection of the Wave, the embedded segment of the King’s Palace became activated once more. The groups of surviving country leaders all became overcome with a splitting headache before passing out on the ground. At the same time, Principal Khan set up invisible shields Casts that separated the students from the country leaders, preventing anyone from noticing the changes.
“Very well.” Principal Khan nodded, maintaining the shield Casts before preparing himself to speak to all of the students, “Today may have been the last day of the Academy, but it will also be the first day of PORA’s downfall…for they have crossed someone that they shouldn’t have…”
“Speaking of which…wouldn’t the Sky Guardian Corp respond to an event like this?” Shaila asked, “Assuming that they haven’t fallen into complete control of PORA…”
“Let’s hope not…” John murmured.
After Principal Khan explained the truth about PORA’s attacks on the Academy, he then dispersed the students with chariots taking them back to either the Eastern or the Western continents.
Then, the three of them passed through the invisible shields, when the unexpected scenes of absolute horror rocked their entire world. The King’s Palace’s residue Cast was supposed to simply suppress memories of those that had been in it. However, from the appearances of the countless corpses laying all over the sandy beach with their blood that streamed out from their nose and mouthes, something went horribly wrong.
“No…” John dropped his hands to the side, hurrying to the first of the generals who’s barely clinging to life as tears mixed with blood welled up in her eyes, “What…what is going on?”
“Oh? So he had activated the contingency to his Palace?” Mus said, feeling a subtle vibration coming from the back of his head.
“Who? John?” Mila asked before having a bite of the food specially prepared for them by the city’s mayor.
“Yeah.” Mus smirked, “I made sure to give him a little…surprise when I used my Melodic Disruption.”
“What…what do we do now…” John said right as the generals’ life drained out from within her, and he looked to Shaila with her mouth covered and Principal Khan who stood still as a statue, “What…now?”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
The burial was quick and in a hurry, and the death of the entire band of world leaders would certainly create chaos all over the world.
However, by the time the students returned to each of their own countries, they quickly learned that their country leaders had safely returned thanks to the diligent work of PORA agents on the ground. Moreover, it was in fact one of Principal Khan’s reckless Casts that lead to the destruction of the island and the downfall of the Academy.
Fortunately, the Grand Commander of PORA, Mus Ongaku, was able to activate the defensive Casts just in time, destroying the majority of the falling island and saving the major Port City in the Ethereal Realm.
Through this event alone, more and more country leaders started changing their attitudes towards PORA, with a handful of those opening acknowledging the PORA’s work in helping ensure the security of their world leaders. The groups of students, not believing the story of PORA, were then quickly rounded up and taken away before they can even create a single ripple in their countries.
Of the few vocal supporters of PORA, the King of Yarka kingdom was a few of those. After returning to Dragonium, the capital of the Yarka Kingdom, he gave an address to the entire Kingdom, where he slammed the corruption and manipulation of the Academy before declaring the formation of another elite Wave user Academy housed directly besides the Sky Guardian Corp Headquarters.
“Very well, my king.” Mus said as he sipped a tea in the grand palace of the Yarka capital, Dragonium, “Your speech was elegant.”
The king stood still with his head lowered, and the country’s Prime Minister stepped out from behind the tower of flesh, a paper Cast held in between his thin bony fingers.
“This meat puppet of yours worked like a charm.” The Prime Minister bowed slightly, a cunning smile filling his face, “As promised, the Yarka Kingdom will become the ally of PORA.”
“Very well.” Mus waved his hand as the Prime Minister directed the Meat Puppet away, “Enjoy your rule. Just…don’t go too crazy to get the people all riled up.”
“Of course.” The Prime Minister said, “I want nothing but greatness for Yarka.”
“So…now that Yarka is under our control…” Mila asked, “Where shall we journey to next?”
“Ah.” Mus smiled before taking his queen’s hand, “I see you are already eager to return home, aren’t you?”
“Thinking tactically, those geezers at Necrovia would provide the most resistance to the vision of a grand unified world.” Mila said with mysterious smile before eventually admitting, “But also…yes. I want what’s rightfully mine.”
“Then consider it done.” Mus said, “The puppets would have been put in place in kingdoms all across the world, but the changes of official stances will still take time. And this is also time for us to weed out any of our oppositions.”
“Then…once the world’s unified…would you be satisfied at last?” Mila asked, “Would there be the harmony that you sought after at last?”
“Perhaps…” Mus said, his voice lowered, “…Perhaps by then…we would be ready for what’s coming…”
In the meanwhile, back in the Kingdom of Varous, the King of Varous and the Atlas twins certainly had their scare when John activated the corrupted version of the King’s Palace. However, before further damage could take place, Wu activated his Void Domain, blasting apart the Cast before it could do any futher damage.
Technically, that would have been Wu’s first non-invasive brain surgery in this world, but he was just glad to have been able to suppress the activation of the Casts.
However, not knowing if the Cast itself would become reactivated from the moment Wu let them go, he and Lera then switched duties in maintaining the Void Domain until they had successfully returned back to the Palace.
That was when they learned that, somehow, another version of the King and the Atlas Twins had already been inserted in their positions of power, and with that, came a sweeping shift in the capital’s security.
Lita was able to get out just before everything came crashing down, and they met up with the real versions of the King and Atlas Twins back in the country home in the Sunshine Valley.
“Let me go first.” Joseph said, watching as Lera was barely keeping herself awake.
“No!” Both Jolyne and the King said at the same time.
“You need to let me do it this time…I can take it.” Joseph said as Wu jumped in to take over the duties of projecting the Void Domain forward.
“Damn it…I wished we could have learned more about the remnant Cast of the King’s Palace from last time…” Wu cursed, his One-Shotter gemstone now still slowly recovering after being completely exhausted to protect the two of them at the Core.
“It…will be okay.” Joseph said, his eyes firm before he stood up. Then, he started running out, “If I die…I love you, Sis.”
“NO!” Jolyne shouted.
“Joseph! Stand down!” The King also shouted, when Joseph sprinted out of the range of Void Domain. He slowly decelerated to a standstill, and he looked down at his big hands.
“Huh?” Joseph blinked with confusion before rechanneling the Wave within his body.
“HUH?!” Both Jolyne and the King both had their jaws dropped. What they didn’t know was that Wu had already accidentally broke apart the embedded Casts during the first exposure to Void Domain, though there really was no knowing that until someone was brave enough to step away from the Void Domain’s shadow.
“Oh great.” Wu shut off his Void Domain and sat back down next to an exhausted Lera, when the King suddenly bent over and growled loudly in pain while holding onto his head.
Jolyne and Jospeh immediately rushed towards him as Lera and Wu watched with horror when he suddenly halted his movements before looking up, a cheeky smile on his face.
“Just kidding~”
“COME ON?!” Jolyne shouted, smacking the old man in the head and making him growl with actual pain this time.
“We didn’t really need that.” Wu collapsed back holding onto Lera’s tummy as she dozed off. Ever since the start of the Summer Selection, they hadn’t been able to catch a moment of relaxation, and, at the very least, it seemed like things have calmed down just a little.