Willuzen

"A bit sandy, with the usual concentrations of carbon and fire mana." Willuzen said, smelling a bit as he looked at the bleak landscape in front of him. A field of soot and ash as far as the Human eye could see, stretching outwards, the remains of the once great city of Afrieal.

"Do we know why the Marchioness ended up burning the city?" he asked the assistant floating in the air beside him, looking at the field like the soot filled environment offended him in some way.

"Not presently commander, little is known about why the rebels decided to-" the assistant began, bowing slightly as if he respected Willuzen greatly. The boy wasn't half as good at flattery as he thought.

"The facts recruit. The Xnarthan investigate for the Emperor, not the other way around." Willuzen said to the recruit.

"Y-yes, commander. After the rebels left after forcefully abducting Afrieal's pop-"

"I said fact, not propaganda, recruit. At least a part of Afrieal's population were rebel sympathizers, if you can't accept that, how will you plan for it?" Willuzen scolded, wondering why he was tolerating this fool again. To fall for the propaganda…no wonder the rebellion was able to get so far. How the Empire had decayed since his time.

"The ash has high concentrations of calcium, magnesium and other materials you'd see in rock, but it's lacking a lot of the organic compounds that should be here.

The ground should be brimming with remains of a massacre, but I can't find it. Perhaps it was burnt away, the ash was strangely flammable." Willuzen said, letting the cold wind blow at his face, the ash settling on his face as he closed his eyes, feeling the mana in the air.

The brat was sneakily pushing the ash away, Willuzen could practically feel his irritation at having to stand in this environment. But standing right there, at the scene, gave him insights that reports just couldn't tell him. The wind was excited, happy, almost giddy. Not normal, the wind didn't show emotion often.

The Rebel Queen and the Marchioness were both using normal Human magic-no, wait. The Marchioness sudden increase in Tier along with her new powers. So, she was behind this. An emotional casting, not good news for them. A new form of magic in the hands of the rebellion could easily turn into something more threatening.

But there was more, the wind, the mana…they weren't angry. Not like the remnant of an angry spell would be.

Willuzen smiled, turning to his annoyed assistant as he said, "Tell my cousin there are two Queens, not one. Anita Salazar is still alive, and so is her mother." The wind spun around, as if laughing at him, conveying the intent of its caster. The laughter of the Marchioness as she laid waste to the city.

"T-two queens, sir?" the brat said, irritating Willuzen out of his trance.

"What is it, recruit?" he answered, annoyed now.

"I- I don't know who your cousin is, sir." the idiot said, changing sentences as if he suddenly understood what Willuzen had said.

"The Emperor, recruit, tell the Emperor." Willuzen said, rolling his eyes as he walked off.

"The Emperor!" the brat yelled, his eyes widening as he realized who he was talking to. "Wait, if you're the Emperor's cousin that means that you- you are…" the brat said, stuttering as he struggled to form a sentence.

Willuzen just shook his head as he teleported out. The Xnarthan had weakened far too much if even trash like this were assigned to him. A culling was in order, they wouldn't survive against two Queens without it.

Ray

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"How is she?" the Dean asked, teleporting behind him as she looked at Anita practicing with her sword.

"Won't stop fighting for a moment, not even to drink water." Ray answered, shaking his head as he looked at his sister fighting a dummy, sweating from head to toe as she butchered a dummy made for Tier 20s.

"So, still feeling weak and angry. " the Dean replied, a keychain twirling in his hand.

" Is there a reason why you're here, troubling me? The rebellion get tired of you scamming them repeatedly?" Ray asked. The Dean had taken to trying to corner the rebellion’s growing need for potions. The Rebel Queen was quite annoyed by him, but even she could do little.

The Dean looked at him judging, as if he was the one lying here.

"So, you're sure about this? I am not sure if I want to lose another disciple." the Dean said.

Ray raised his eyebrow questioningly, "Weren't you the one that sent the Armorer to the Hirlá continent?"

"Yes, but he's not coming back either." the Dean grumbled, "The place does suit him though. An arms merchant…I suppose he did like weapons more than Alchemy."

"Well, he had to go somewhere, the Empire isn't exactly a good place for us now." Ray answered as Anita moved on to another target.

"And that's why you're going there?" the Dean asked, finally getting to the real reason he was here.

"The battle is not mine to fight, Master." Ray said, the word sounding awkward on his lips. "The Empire's matters are not mine. Not anymore."

"Just because you turned into a Fae doesn't mean that you don't have a home here." the Dean said, still trying to persuade him/

"Doesn't it? Didn't you notice the stares, the gossip?" Ray said, turning towards the Dean.

"Ray, you have a bloody crown on your head, and killed one of the Emperor's disciples. Not to mention on a first name basis with both the Queens. The rebellion is going to discuss you regardless of whether you're Fae." the Dean.

Ray sighed, they'd had this argument over and over again in the last few days. But he wasn't even close to convinced.

"And it will only get worse when sprout wings and start flying. I want to see Ma again, Master. I want to find out who my real parents are. And I want to see what my people look like, how they live. I just want to live somewhere I'm not a spectacle, somewhere I am close to normal." Ray said, putting his foot down.

The Dean sighed, "I don't think that's really possible, Ray. But I won't stop you if you want to go. After the treaty signing, yes? Have you told your family?" the Dean asked.

"No, and I am not going to. Aunty Ariana won't let me leave so easily, I will sneak away while they're busy with the treaty." Ray said, moving towards the portal gate. The rebel base was hidden, few knew where it was, and fewer still knew the actual layout. The gates were portals, you teleported from one to another. A safer, but more expensive alternative.

"Here, take it, I won't stop you, but I still think that this is a terrible idea." the Dean said, handing Ray the hat before teleporting away. The only reason he'd told the Dean was because he wanted the hat to hide. The camouflage would be very useful.

Ray emerged into a large, crowded hall, looking around at the crowd gathered here. The members of the rebellion, most of them from Afrieal, though the other branches had started trickling into the base too.

Aunty Ariana and the Rebel Queen were going to officially announce an alliance, and sign a treaty stating so. On the surface the two co-operating was obvious, they had the same goal, but there was a catch. What happened after they succeeded.

Did they divide the territory? Did the Rebel Queen take it entirely? What targets would they target? Would they combine armies, or keep them separate? The economies had to collide too, the Salazar group produced far too much and the rebellion far too little. But together they might be able to make it work.

Ray didn't know what they had decided, but they had clearly done something. In just three days, no less.

The sound of someone coughing emerged from the stage as one of the rebellion leaders declared, "The ceremony will begin soon. I ask the audience to please maintain silence."

The audience wasn't too fond of that, much to the leader's irritation, they decided to talk about it. Ray just shook his head, even he knew that crowds didn't just stop talking, they would chatter even in the middle of a speech.

"Now, now, can we please have a little quiet?" Aunty Ariana said, teleporting onto the stage. The crowd did quiet down now, interested in hearing what they had to say. But Ray felt that something was wrong. Why was the Rebel Queen not here? A ceremony had pomp and glamour…it seemed that something unplanned had happened.

"I am sorry to say that the treaty will not be signed today, but the rebellion and Salazar group will continue cooperating and sabotaging the Empire. Thank you for coming, and sorry for the inconvenience." she said before teleporting back out.

Ray wondered what had happened, he hadn't been involved, but this seemed odd. A part of him wanted to stay here, to ask around, even fix what was happening, but the System wouldn't let him.

A timer stood in the right corner of his vision, reminding him that he was on a clock.

14: 17: 23 to completion of transformation.

Just two weeks to rescue Ma and get to the Fae continent. Ray sighed as he slipped out, Aunty Ariana would have to deal with this one herself, he had other things to do.