Rage coursed through me. All my advisors were kow-towing in front of my throne to avoid my displeasure. The Astrologer had managed to halt and then push back our advance. Already the battle lines were impacting our resource generation.

Our earlier incursions had been repelled. Now my Empire was on the back foot. I could not take the field against the Astrologer and was still trying to pinpoint exactly what he did to me. The challenge was that, while his attack was inactive, it was impossible to sense.

Now, I was losing and had been offered another treaty. Banning certain practices and boarders for our respective nations. Everyone was silent as I thought over my options. I needed to fix myself first. I centered myself.

I had been too caught up with vengeance. It had waited decades before. It would wait some more. Honestly, I was surprised the Astrologer had not kept pushing. But he probably didn’t want me disappearing, turning up in random locations. Having an Empire to occasionally manage, used up my time.

Also, he was funding the rebels to give me headaches. They were like weeds. Sprouting up in the South. No matter how many I killed there were always more. Weeds and dogs. That was the filth I was surrounded by.

“Bring me the treaty,” I said. My Lord General quickly got to his feet and passed the papers to me. I leaned back on my throne and looked through them. It felt like another trap. But I couldn’t tell what it was. I demanded a brush and ink. A servant quickly brought some and I signed my name on both copies next to the Astrologer’s name.

“Take it, and deliver it in my name my Envoy,” I told him. He got up and took the documents from my hand and immediately left. I looked out at the rest of the people who served under me. Incompetent and useless were their mottos to lose this war and force me to sign this treaty.

It was a disgrace to my title as Divine Empress. “Lord General, secure the boarder. Cut off any supplies to the rebels and attempts at spying. I want the boarder locked down tight. No excuses,” I said.

“Yes, Divine Empress,” he replied his head touched the floor of my throne room.

“Master Fleshcrafter. Your research is too slow. Increase your efforts,” I demanded.

“Yes, your Divine Majesty,” he replied.

“Inquisitor remind the Lords that any delay on their tribute will invite me to make a personal example. They might be inclined to get ideas or try something. My Lords are meant to manage, they are not meant to think,” I ordered him.

“Yes, Divine Empress,” she said.

“Chief Diviner, have you countered the shrouding effects yet?” I asked.

“No, Divine Empress. The energy is disturbed, there are countless small ripples.”

“Then what use are you?” I asked. I could see him tremble.

“I continue to track large scale energy emissions. And to develop triangulation methods. It has shown some success with locating the Astrologer’s current position and updating Lord General,” the Chief Diviner explained.

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“And yet, failure! All I see is failure and disappointment in front of me. I think your slowness to develop results and counter the UCS is due to a lack of motivation. Don’t you agree Chief Diviner?” I asked.

“I…yes Divine Empress.” I gave a short nod at that statement.

“Good, then go and motivate yourself properly for three days. Take your time to. As a Diviner, your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin could use special attention. That should focus your energy sensing when you don’t have your other senses to distract you. Perhaps you will learn some-“

My danger sense flared. My below! I slammed my hands down onto my throne. The armrests shattered as I shot upward. Up through the roof and past the startled soldiers stationed up here. I spun in the air to see what my senses were telling me.

An annihilation explosion had engulfed my throne. It was completely gone. “Seal the city!” I roared as I fell back down. “I want them alive! Or you take their place!” I adjusted my trajectory to land back inside my throne room.

My advisors were cowering at the back like the dogs they were. “Lord General, Inquisitor, I want them alive! No excuses. Go!” They quickly scampered off. “Master Fleshcrafter prepare a new throne. It is time to improve the ambiance of this place.”

“Yes, your Divine Majesty,” he said and quickly scurried away. I turned to the Master Diviner.

“And how come you didn’t sense anything?” I asked as I slowly walked towards him.

“Most likely concealment enchantments to reflect the primed energy back inwards,” he stuttered out.

“Oh, concealing enchantments. But you are Master Diviner.” My hand landed darted out and plucked out his eye. He slapped up a hand to cover the empty socket as blood rushed out.

“One thousand times. Both eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and your skin. I want you to build a monument to your failure.” I pushed my hand against his chest. His eyeball smushed against his clothing. I then wiped my hand off his shirt.

“Yes, Divine Empress,” he said. I stepped back and waved my hand. He quickly ran away. I went over to the hole where my throne used to be. They dare strike at this Empress! The dogs! The only reason I had spared my Chief Diviner was his insight.

Enchantments to hide the nature of the bomb. At least it wasn’t hidden from my Perception. Even a fraction of a second later, and I would have died. I had looked into the annihilation effect. It piqued my interest since the previous ruler had a skill that used the effect.

It was the ultimate anti-energy attack. Pure energy that just blasted everything else away. Like a power jet cleaning away the filth that had been left behind with a blast of water. Scraping down the outside surface and possibly even digging in.

Annihilation was also one of the few effects that could directly hurt me. I would have to find a counter to this as well as mental attacks. It had the Astrologer’s fingerprints written all over it. I grit my teeth. His people and cities were unwilling to work for me.

Even when spies were offered quite a lot of crystals, all the attempts to infiltrate the UCS had failed. Well, that was not true. My Envoy did quite a good job on his own. But he was just one man. Still, he had been doing quite well, one of the few people not to be completely useless.

The Astrologer would pay. He had humiliated me. He had defeated me. I would find and kill him one day. He had been foolish to offer me this treaty. I signed it, but I would make him choke on it. His screams and those of his Valkyries would be legendary.

I left the ruined throne room and made my way to my personal chambers. Only two maids were allowed to enter and clean. No one else. The soldiers knew enough to ensure that. I took a seat in my mediation chamber and focused on my internal energy. Every twist and turn.

It would have to comb through every speck of dust that made my body to purge what the Astrologer had done to me. The one thing I was not afraid of was hard tedious work. I started on my smallest left toe. Letting the energy move about freely and then forcing it to move. Carefully observing for any irregularities and memorizing what normal energy flow should be.

Even if it took all day to look at a single toe. I did not mind. I would not allow myself to be weakened in any way. I would also increase my control and understanding of my energy to even greater heights so this could never happen again.