Lita was more than happy to have guests in the house, and she brought out her signature potato stew to welcome home the big crowd.
“Miss Huten. I apologize for our hurried intrusion…” The King was polite as usual, and Lita waved away his apologies before putting a bowl full of rice down in front of the king.
The King audibly swallowed his saliva, clearly hungry after the long journey.
“Don’t fuss it.” Lita said, “You talk your things. I will go whip up some side dishes.”
“That won’t be necessary…” Joseph said, when Lita put her hand up.
“You love my pickled radishes, Joseph!” Lita said, and Joseph relented, lowering his head before his stomach growled upon hearing Lita’s words.
Jolyne chuckled, and Joseph glared at her before mumbling, “What?! It is delicious…”
“Ok. Back to the topic at hand, that’s not food.” Wu said, tapping his knuckles down on the table, “You seemed rather relaxed to see someone else in your position…when you are the actual king?”
“Well…I suppose when you put it like that, it made me look awful.” The old man joked when Jolyne pinched his arms.
“He is awful!” Jolyne said, “He chose to save me instead of protecting Varous!”
“Ungrateful brat…” The King rolled his eyes, “See, don’t be like that to your mom when you grew up, Lera.”
“Oh, she’d better not.” Lita came in, placing down a side dish of pickles and another one with hot stir-fries, “Don’t wait for me! Just get going!”
“Thank you.” Wu said, putting his hands together. At this point, it is almost customary to have a meal with the companions towards the end of each season.
“Don’t mention it.” Lita winked at Wu before spinning around.
“When the whole ordeal with Inverted Questions occurred, the simplest questions were how they actually managed to take control of the Palace in such a manner.” The King continued, taking a slice of the potatoes caramelized in thick soy sauce before mashing it into the rice with ease, “They had someone in my ministers, but I don’t know who. Seeing who’s really behind these impostors will be the first step to figuring that out.”
“Are the impostors going to have our strengths too?” Jolyne asked, and everybody else shrugged before the room briefly turned silent with the group of five devouring their meals.
“Lera, have you heard of any Casts like that?” The King asked, and Wu turned to Lera who shook her head.
“It might be a sort of advanced Casting, or even Manifesting.” Lera said, looking back at Wu, “Ver had unlocked her abilities to create ink clones of varying strengths, so I’d imagine it would be around that ballpark.”
“Better yet.” The King smirked, “If they can substitute us with those weird lookalikes, that means we can also insert ourselves back there just as easily. They wouldn’t even know a thing, apart from those behind the scenes who will totally be freaked out by us.”
“That sounds fun.” Joseph said, “Assuming they aren’t going to just…tear down everything in the Kingdom right away.”
“They won’t get the chance to do it.” Jolyne continued, “We will go tomorrow and observe what’s inside the palace. It shouldn’t take long at all before we out those rebellious scum.”
“Sounds good.” The King nodded, slurping up the sauce at the bottom of the bowl before standing up for seconds. However, Lita held out her hand and grabbed it for him instead.
“Do you need our help?” Wu asked, and all three shook their heads at the same time.
“We will be able to handle this ourselves.” The King smiled, “You two have done…more than enough recently. Plus, what’s the point of having generals if they can’t do their jobs?”
“…I will get stronger.” Joseph lowered his head, and that certainly was not the intention of the King’s remarks, “After seeing how strong the others are…we cannot be slacking any longer.”
“We will too.” Lera said, taking Wu’s hand, “We will all have to get stronger. Assuming that the same is happening everywhere scenario is happening everywhere else, with PORA taking over, the people will need our help to restore order all around, especially with…”
“Every else being killed after the activation of the King’s Palace…” The King said, thinking to the natural conclusion of what would have happened, “John…he had just committed a crime worth executing ten times over.”
“And that would mean PORA had already won, effectively.” Lera said, the relaxing atmosphere of the evening meal snatched away by the harsh realization, “They would have controlled…every single country out there.”
“That’s not it.” The King added, “We were lucky to have you two around, but the other Kingdoms, they are not going to be so lucky. But if we straight up put ourselves out there, while the whole rest of the world was still under PORA’s control, we would only make ourselves the target.”
“You know we can’t just sit idly and watch.” Wu said, and the King nodded firmly.
“I know. We, as official and recognized members of the Kingdom of Varous, cannot interfere on diplomatic grounds. However, you two can. Well, you two would be able to do so a lot easier than us, anyway.” The King said, “So that leaves the next stage of your adventures as such…”
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Wu and Lera will have to go around each of the Kingdoms and countries, sought out the resistance forces and help them regain control of the Kingdoms subtly. Once they have gotten the support of a substantial number of Kingdoms, then they will reveal their cards to PORA, forming an open alliance against whatever they are planning.
That would not be easy, because the individuals that are behind the puppet Kings and Queens would also be controlling the country level defensive Casts, and depending on the political and cultural histories of each of the Kingdoms, the people will also respond differently to the new status quo.
In the meanwhile, they also needed to figure out PORA’s true goals from this point on. The world had progressed to a point where take-over and unification were no longer performed through open warfare, but through back-channel dealings and manipulation of people in positions of power.
The journey ahead is going to be long and hard, but at the very least, Wu and Lera knew that they would have the backing of Varous wherever they go.
The next day, the King and the Atlas twins returned to Sonne, the Capital city of Varous before infiltrating the Palace. There, they spotted the fake versions of themselves sitting motionlessly in the grand palace while a group of ministers drank until they were passed out with crates of gold and rare gems sitting in the middle being gambled over.
From the sounds of their dialogue, it appeared that they had just been handsomely rewarded for completing a job for the ‘big boss’. And from the scattered bits and pieces of dialogue, it became clear that the last remnants of the Pinnacle Research Institute had been completely dismantled, despite the protests of the surviving scholars and students.
In it’s stead, a national library restricted only for select individuals will be built. Despite its outward appearance being similar to the Pinnacle Research Institute, the membership will instead be based on monetary contributions rather than merit.
While the King, and the Atlas twins subtle dumped out what turned out to be zombie mush versions of themselves and acted as if they were motionless puppets, the prime minister of Varous stepped forward, a control Cast in hand as he was ready to play with Jolyne.
Joseph was about to act first, when Jolyne had already snapped his neck in half. The loud crack woke up the rest of the ministers, and soon the King would be looking for a new cabinet.
Ordinarily, the contacts of the ministers inside the Kingdoms would become alerted for when there was a sudden shift of power and replacement of individuals. However, similar events are occurring all over the world, with those in control cleansing away their oppositions in the palace and consolidating power in the name of security.
With the up and coming military generals and some of the surviving students who were loyal to the King without a question, a new cabinet of Varous is formed, though they still maintained their loyalty to PORA with the new prime minister personally meeting the contact, which turned out to also be an old contact for the Inverted Questions.
Keeping tabs on all that went on with that individual, the King and the Atlas Twins then began their slow rebuilding process, now having to deal with the country-level defensive Casts that suddenly emerged all around the Kingdom.
Different groups with their own motives and benefits started trying to control and take over the country-level Casts, with small cities hoping to become independent states during the time of chaos. However, that’s a story for another day.
In the meanwhile, Mus, now departing from the Yarka Kingdom towards Necrovia, hosted one of his meetings with the other commanders and regional leaders of PORA all across the world.
“Ensuring stability in your region is a priority.” Mus said, sitting atop a flat column-shaped rock with his legs crossed. His eyes travelled from one blurred figure to the next, “Then, make sure you fully explore and utilize the function of the defensive Casts. Mobilize your armies, and make sure that they are sharp. “We don’t have the most amount of time, so we will have to make the most out of it. Additionally, bring the most talented Wave researchers to Yarka, where a new Academy would be set up with far tighter control than before.”
“And what of the Sky Guardian Corp and the Pillars?” Another cloaked figure asked before one stood tall and unveiled her cover.
“They would not be an issue.” She said, revealing her white bald head with her skins pale like paper. She had pure black eyes that felt like they could pierce Mus’s chest with just the intensity of the glare, “Noalnd, the Endless, is returning to us, and I will make sure that he would walk out a fellow compatriot to the cause.”
“I am sure he will.” Mus lowered his head with respect, “After all, it was thanks to the Ruleless that we were able to insert the meat puppets into positions of power.”
“Make no mistake.” The woman referred to as the Ruleless said, her stare sweeping the room, “I simply wish to exert vengeance. I care not for the little games of the other branches.”
“Of course.” Mus smiled, smoothing things over, “Now. Let’s get to work.”
With that, the remainders of the projection Casts flickered out of sight, leaving behind Mus sitting alone in the desert. Mila poked her head out from behind a tent, and she came behind Mus before placing her smooth fingers over his shoulder.
“With that…” Mus said, “The War of the Fourth Millenium had begun. From this point…there is no turning back anymore.”
“Do you have doubts?” Mila asked, and Mus shook his head she helped him tie up his glowing hair.
“No.” Mus looked beyond the horizon, “Only united worlds can stand a chance…and against them…we would need everything we have…”
“Then, let’s hope that it will all be enough when the time comes…” Mila sighed, hugging Mus from behind.
“It will. It has to.” Mus said firmly, “I will accomplish what no Savior had accomplished before, and I will save this world.”