The Joint Military Headquarters of the Semi-Allied Nations

Year 2851 | Month 1 | Day 16

“As Crown Prince of the Kingdom of the Fallen, I declare this battle a victory for the Kingdom!” a deep and sinister voice echoes throughout the headquarters’ main war council chamber from the holographic recording playing about the massive table at the center of the chamber. Meanwhile a man with glowing crimson eyes and pitch black veins stretching from said eyes stands with the rising sun behind his back.

But the Class A magicians in the chamber focus more on the arcadian metal swords pierced into the ground in front of him, along with the corpses of the Class A magicians they sent to capture him. Completely ignoring the fleet of destroyed ships behind him.

Several seconds pass in silence before shouts begin to fill the chamber from numerous angry magicians.

“Those bastards were defeated by a single fucking vampire?! Preposterous!!!” “They’re all dead?! They lost!?” “How?! How did this happen?!” “How the fucking hell could seven Class A magicians fail to capture a single Class B vampire magician!? And they all died on top of it!”

All of the generals and other war council leaders within the chamber continues to shout abuse at the others with very few exceptions. And before long, one of the council leaders even leaves the council after getting permission from their Class S magician.

From the Chairman.

Officially making the Republic of Arcania leave the alliance due to the loss of two of their Class A magicians.

But not before the three Class A magicians from the republic send a brief coordinated attack against the other Class A magicians, wounding several of them in the process. Even if the three of them leave without killing anyone.

Meanwhile the remaining members of the council all turn their collective anger towards the nation of Natra.

The one nation amongst the alliance that had their Class A magician survive the battle and surrender.

“Explain yourself, Fire Lord,” the intelligence officer of the White Kingdom declares with a scowl on his face. One that’s reflected in the gazes of the other Class A magician leaders.

The Fire Lord – the acting ruler over all of Natra in Juan’s stead – glares back at him with a look of superiority on his face as he answers, “What needs explaining? We were defeated, once again proving the superiority of fire magic over the other affinities. We underestimated the vampire and his fire magic and have faced a setback for it.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

His words instantly antagonize all of the other magicians within the room, even though there isn’t a single magician amongst them who didn’t expect his response.

Because everyone knows of Natra’s fire superiority complex. All because of their Class S magician, Juan Sequani. The known most dangerous strategic class magician in the entire continent.

In a one on one battle, he would lose to the most powerful magicians of a couple of the other nations. Such as Adalwolf Giese and the Chairman of the Republic. But everyone knows that he is the most dangerous magician in the entire continent when it comes to one thing.

Nation-scale destruction.

“You weren’t holding back to help the vampire in any way, were you?” the intelligence officer asks with his eyes narrowed, only for the Natran Fire Lord to send a wave of flames outwards from himself in response. “It was your subordinate who first clashed with this vampiric magician, was it not?”

The Fire Lord stares at the intelligence officer for a few seconds, then turns his gaze to look at the other country leaders in the chamber.

Then he realizes that whether he’s to blame or not, they all plan on turning it on him. Simply out of spite for him not having any permanent losses so long as he can retrieve his general from the vampire.

The Fire Lord sends a message about the situation to Juan before getting a response that doesn’t surprise him in the least.

So he follows his orders and stands up from his throne before raising a single hand.

All of the other Class A magicians immediately put up barriers to protect themselves as a massive explosion rings out from the center of the chamber. Destroying absolutely everything inside of it and blowing up a third of the military headquarters.

“If you would like a scapegoat, we will give you one,” the Fire Lord declares without even trying to hide the disgust in his voice as he looks at the other magicians. Even though he knows he would do the same in their situation. “Natra will officially be seceding from this alliance.”

Then the Fire Lord vanishes in a plume of flames, leaving the other Class A magician leaders to face each other. With the number of nations within their alliance having quickly changed from six to four with a single battle.

Silence fills the chamber for several seconds before the Class A figurehead king of the Collective Kingdoms asks within the destroyed chamber, “How will we deal with the vampire from here on out?”

No one answers for a little while as the Class A magicians look at each other. Meanwhile the soldiers of the headquarters all rush around trying to figure out why a third of their headquarters was blown up, only to find the Natran and Republic’s forces having already left the facility.

“We consult with the Class S magicians,” one of the attending Entarian council representatives eventually answers, making the other war council participants nod their heads in agreement.

Because none of them want responsibility for their nations losing any more Class A magicians.

They will all already be in enough trouble as it is with their nations over this after all.

“Then it’s agreed,” the intelligence officer of the White Kingdom declares. “We will leave the matter of the Undying Magician, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of the Fallen, to the Class S magicians and focus on the matter of the Republic and Natra’s betrayal.”

All Class A magicians present give a response in the positive to his words, marking the end of the subject within the war council.