A team of twenty fully armed Fire Breakers made their way up the first of the Mjumbe Mountains under the light of the morning sun which was dimmed by the dark storm clouds.

They marched in a rectangular formation around three Blessed Sisters who, like their guards, wore dark leather clothing which was soaked by the rain.

This was one of the many groups that had been sent by Ua to search for Musa.

The eyes of all three Sisters glowed green and they scanned the Mountains above as they walked.

From what I’d observed, a person could use Life Magic to scan their surroundings for any Life signatures although this was limited to their field of view.

That said, it worked wonderfully at night.

“Halt!” One of Blessed Sisters barked as rain washed down the mountainside.

Her eyes were locked on something up ahead and this prompted the Fire Breakers to raise their spears and clubs.

The Sister then raised her eyes to the sky and before she could even blink, Heziyn’s Ilem came rushing towards her.

The Ilem used her downward momentum to cleave off the Sister’s head before using the same momentum to stab one of the Fire Breakers in the head.

The two remaining Blessed Sisters raised their hands to use magic but their eyes suddenly widened and they grabbed their necks as Makaa, who slowly walked down the mountain, pulled the blood from their heads.

I peered at their Life Energy and saw that, by pulling and tugging at their vitality, he could manipulate their very blood.

The Blessed Sisters died in an instant allowing Makaa to turn his attention to the Fire Breakers who all rushed towards the Ilem.

She fought them all back furiously with a speed that drove her body to the very limits of what non augmented humanoids were capable of.

After killing four Fire Breakers with her razor sharp dagger, she narrowly avoided getting impaled by countless spears by dashing backwards and twisting her body to the edge of breakage.

Her reflexes were so quick and her movements so swift that it seemed as though she was dancing.

But, she could only move so fast and the superhuman strength of the Fire Breakers eventually became too much to keep up with and so, just as she successfully dodged one spear, another skewered her thigh.

She let out a pained gasp but before the other spears could get to her, Makaa raised his hands and quickly squeezed them into first, forcing all of the blood in the heads of five of the Fire Breakers to rush to the centres of their brains, killing them instantly.

The Ilem took the opportunity to dash backwards, pulling the spear from her leg in the process.

She then healed her leg using the fading Life Energy in the nearby fresh corpses before dashing back into combat.

The ten remaining Fire Breakers split themselves between Makaa and the Ilem.

Makaa raised his arms to kill another five but one of them threw a spear at him.

He narrowly avoided it by twisting his neck to the side.

He then squeezed his hands, making the brains of his opponents implode and while he did that, the Ilem siphoned the residual Glass Energy in the air into her dagger.

She then charged it with electricity as her eyes began glowing blue.

Two of her opponents tried stabbing her but she dashed away before using all of the Glass Energy in her body to launch herself at them and before they could respond, she lightly cut their necks.

The two then fell to their knees as they were electrocuted.

The Ilem then rapidly absorbed the Life Energy in their bodies and, in an a desperate bid, she gathered as much ambient Glass Energy as she could before letting out a silent scream just as the last three tried stabbing her.

A wave of electricity then left her body as a single pulse and it electrocuted her opponents.

The Ilem, however, wasn’t sparred from ramifications and so, just as her opponents fell, so did she.

Makaa rushed to her side and, after scanning the horizon, dragged her back to his cave where a worried Heziyn removed the Ilem’s clothes, revealing that her entire body was covered in burns.

Makaa explained what happened to a panicking Heziyn before joining her in trying to find a way to help the Ilem.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Heziyn couldn’t heal her since she wasn’t a Blessed Sister and Makaa didn’t know how healing worked.

As the two frantically tried looking for solutions, Musa sat by the Ilem’s side and raised his small hands.

His eyes then began glowing green and he began siphoning Ambient Glass Energy which he poured into the Ilem who groaned in pain.

“Musa?” Heziyn gasped as the boy diligently healed the Ilem.

He made sure not to pour more than she needed and just healed her enough to ensure she wouldn’t die.

The Ilem briefly opened her eyes and looked into the boy’s, who’s glowed brightly green along with his long kinky hair.

She weakly reached out to him and he gently accepted her hand before watching as she returned to unconsciousness.

Musa then finally turned to a wide eyed Heziyn and Makaa.

“What should we do now?” He asked.

“We…” Heziyn began.

“Should move.” Makaa ended making Musa nod.

“Alright but… maybe we should wait until aunty wakes up.” The boy suggested.

“Alright.” Heziyn weakly smiled.

I turned to Central Hatua and watched as tens of thousands of warriors gathered at the foot of Mount Kupumzika.

None of them spoke or complained even as they stood in the rain.

They all then looked up as a bright purple light floated out of the palace.

It stopped just above the palace’s outer wall and those who were close enough could see a person within it.

[I’m going to assume that since you have come here, you are still loyal to me.] Ua said. Her voice was amplified by her gravitational force field and it reached the farthest reaches of the city.

[If you are not or if you Harbour any doubts, you are free to leave and will not be punished.] Ua said with half closed eyes.

None of the warriors moved from where they stood.

[Alright. I will give you one order in this moment and, even I die during whatever comes, you will follow it until it is fulfilled.] Ua said before pointing to the south.

[After gathering whatever resources you need, you will march south and kill every treacherous dog you find. I don’t care if they were once your brothers in arms, your children or you mothers! I want each and every one of them dead, is that understood?] Ua yelled.

“YES, MA’AM!” The army replied in unison.

[Good. Now, prepare yourselves for a great cleansing!] Ua yelled before floating back into the palace.

She landed on the balcony by her bedroom and thanks to her force field, not a drop of rain had touched her.

She, after entering her room, walked towards the door only to stop just before reaching it.

“Mmm?” She whimpered.

“Don’t worry… everything should be back in order once I wipe them out and get Musa back.” She said while unblinkingly staring at nothing.

“No, not that Musa. I’m not a necromancer., you big lug.” She chuckled before reaching out to the door.

“Anyway, I have to go now so goodbye, Mlezi.” She said before finally blinking and leaving her room.

I frowned internally before switching to Soul View.

Nothing was there, as expected and this meant that Ua had finally lost what little of her sanity remained.

I…

I felt saddened by this not because she had lost her mind but because this would undoubtedly stump whatever potential she had left.

However, she had done what I had set her out to do.

She had gotten this far and for that… I was proud.

I wanted to reward her before anything else happened but she was a Queen. There’s not much I could do to add to her wealth.

I knew she was still mourning Mlezi but I wasn’t a necromancer either.

She would simply have to simply accept my feelings.

Why didn’t I appear before her to tell her how proud I was?

She had gotten this far on her own and since I had been hands off this entire time, I was going to change that as even the mere act of hearing my words could alter things drastically.

And so silent I remained.

“Who will lead your forces on the ground, your highness?” Modo asked as he stood next to Ua who stared blankly at her plate.

“You’ll have to pick someone competent and, most importantly, loyal.” She instructed while using her spoon to poke at her food.

“How will we know they are loyal?”

“I have just sent them to march into Akili’s flames. That boy… I'm sure you saw it… the fury in his flames. Any man willing to even think about fighting him is either delusional or stupidly loyal.” Ua scoffed.

“Maybe it’s a bit of both for we who remained.” Modo smiled making Ua raise a brow at him.

“Perhaps. Anyway, I may have sent them down there with the intent of crushing those treacherous dogs but this will not be won by men with spears as was once the case in the past. It’ll be won by magicians with he and I being the most powerful in Hatua. Although he is at a disadvantage since I control the Crystal Lands-“ Ua’s eyes widened.

“When you’re done organizing our ranks, I want you to reinforce security in and around the Crystal Lands. They are the true seat of our power and I don’t want a single filthy hand to touch them during all of this.”

“Yes, ma’am-“ Modo stopped as Ua’s stomach loudly growled.

“Why aren’t you eating?” Modo asked with a soft chuckle.

“Ugh! I just lost my tasters and I don’t trust any of those scheming maids so… umm… do you want to try it for me?” Ua asked.

“Of course.” Modo smiled before leaning forward as Ua fed him a spoonful of her dinner.

Modo swallowed the stew before looking up in thought.

“Well, it definitely tastes good.”

“Ugh, that’s not the problem. Stand there for fifteen minutes and we’ll see if I can eat as well.”

Modo nodded before wincing a little as the clap of thunder shook the air.

Fifteen minutes eventually passed and Ua began eating although she fed him a few spoons here and there.

After eating, Modo left the palace while Ua returned to her room.

She crawled into bed and closed her eyes to sleep.

As she did, I gently raised one of my Uyil Belts but I didn’t allow it to touch any of hers as that would fully connect us.

I instead thought the words “Ua, I’m proud of you” before lowering my Belt and as I did, a single tear fell from her eye.

I turned to the far north.

Low murmurs and whispers from various guests filled the air in the Chieftain’s home.

Emunah had just announced her marriage to Chozek and although he was the son of an old chief, his demeanour didn’t inspire much confidence.

He was meek and soft spoken, especially when compared to Emunah who stood proudly at all times.

Following this, Emunah gained a name which was only ever whispered or spat.

They called her the “Whore Queen” and dubbed Chozek the “Puppet King”.

The rising discontent made Emunah increase security around the Chieftain’s home.

One thing that people couldn’t get angry at, however, was Chozek’s desire to build a monument to honour those who died during the Shrimp War.

It was decided that several blacksmiths would work together to forge a large iron sword that would stand across the statue of Sav’ta in the city of Pele.

It stood two meters tall and was embedded into a large rock which was lined with carvings that depicted the war.

This sword was said to represent the will of the Chofumah people as a collective.