I tap my finger against the table, sounding out a soothing rhythm. Like the slow ticking of a metronome, it’s helping me to focus. Everything is slowly coming together in my mind, plans building on plans. I tear down each and rebuild them better, over and over.

I will have that city, and I will protect what is mine.

For that I need power. I need strength.

I need to train. I need to prepare our warriors. I need to eliminate Loekan and his forces.

Then, we can finally have a moment to breath, and to build. To give my people a chance to do something other than fight a bloody war.

“What are you thinking about?” Nel asks, settling a cup of tea before me.

While I’m more a coffee girl, this tea smells pleasantly sweet. A single sip and the gentle flavour spreads out over my tongue, the sweet scent blooming through my senses, another soothing element to calm the ball of rage that’s migrated to my twisted heart.

“I’m thinking ahead. To the moment when we’ll finally have some peace. Just a moment to be ourselves without something trying to kill us.” I say, with a long sigh. “A moment to build a home for my people.”

Nels own fingers start tapping the same rhythm as mine, my anxiety is spreading.

“We’ll get there.” She says, smiling at me. I’m sure she’s pressing down her own concerns to help soothe my mind. I need to do something nice for her when we’re done with all this.

“We’ll carve out a place where we can be safe.” I say.

We all need this. To escape the influence of the welfare officers, to have strong walls between us and the beasts of the dungeon. Somewhere we can be safe from all those that would hurt us.

I’m responsible for more people now, and I need to give them everything that I want for myself. So far, I’ve been failing them sorely.

So I take a moment and I imagine my goal.

My city, taken from Loekan, rebuilt and thriving.

People happily going about their own lives, free to express themselves as they wish, and pursue whatever career and hobby they desire. There are aspects of the academy above that I adore. I want to give people the opportunities, but without telling them what they must do or become.

Even as I walk these streets in the dream, one guardsman salutes me as I pass, while a grumpy old man swears at me in spite. There’s no bowing, or any such nonsense. I don’t need to be praised by every person in my empire. If some wish to peacefully rebel, then they can, I can imagine hippy camps crying about making love not war. A little annoying, but something that can only exist in a thriving society, not a desperate one.

There are no beggars in the streets, we have more than enough houses and food for all. Everyone participates of their own accord, reaching for their own dreams, while making our society so much better for each of their efforts.

It’s a dream that I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to turn real, but a shining, beautiful goal nonetheless. For today, that is what I want to create, and for that, I need to deal with Loekan. I need to suppress his elites. I need to win the war, and ensure we’re not embroiled in another after it.

Slaughter, cut, butcher. Separate the parts, and sell them in the markets, desecrate them in every which way. Who would war against a monster? None, show them a monster. Show them your victims.

No.

Such thoughts aren’t constructive. If I need to intimidate someone, I’d rather do it with a clear mind.

Luke, the living oil spill, has proven to me that I’m too quick in my judgements. To quick to think that killing is the only option I have, because all too often it’s been the best that I have. I might not like how extreme the Unified States are in demanding that soldiers die rather than kill, but the idea that our enemy can be saved is still a good one at it’s core.

A challenge that can’t always be made real, but to ignore the possibility because it’s challenging would be foolish.

I’ll have to try and open communications with the elites of Loekan’s forces. Come to terms and have them join my side.

The lesser forces, his fodder, isn’t something I can do much about. Or at least I don’t know of a way to do anything about them.

Loekan is different, however.

He’s like me in many ways, but he doesn’t have the small saving grace of actually caring about his people. They’re disposable tools to him.

I can never allow myself to become something so far gone, and I cannot save such a man. He will have to be put down.

Rudolf marches into the room alongside Eshya, Vii, and Adler. Most of the others will be participating through the group chat. It almost feels like some online meet up. Just so long as no one starts playing porn over the chat, I think it should work just fine.

“We’re getting started.” I send out through the group chat, connecting all those that I most respect the opinions of. This might be a war council, but war is a political affair, I need more than just the opinions of warriors.

“Here I was getting worried that you’d forgotten.” Red says, I can see through the tag Skill that she’s not currently in a fight. A good thing.

“Let’s cover our current situation first of all.” I encourage. “Our people are safe in the lord’s colony?”

“We’re safe up here.” Slan says, his opinion is always among the most valuable of those not fighting. “A few people are getting settled in here. Some who… didn’t like your way of doing things have loudly decided that they prefer it here.”

“The humans?” I ask, nodding. “That’s fine. Everyone should get to choose where they live and who they respect as their leader. I’ll have to make arrangements to ensure they’re staying doesn’t cause problems for the locals living there, but that’s for later.

“Red, our war efforts?” I ask.

“We’re in the same position as we were when you left.” Red says. “We’re still using the lie that you’re down here hunting for Loekan as a way to keep him from getting too heavily involved. Our warriors are getting more experienced by the day down here, we can keep this up for a long time.”

I don’t imagine it would be good for their mental health, but I’m not sure how many civilisations there are out here that care about that. I’ll have to see if I can find a way to get them a break. Or better, to end this war and give them more than a day or two away from the killing.

“We are getting stronger, but we don’t have a decisive means of overcoming the enemy.” She continues.

“You focus on keeping the war from escalating. I’ll get the needed assets to finish the conflict.” I send. “Did anyone get the contacts for the elites we engaged with. The bugs, the giant, the spy, and the mage, I think that was all of them.”

“What are you planning? They won’t be convinced to change sides.” This from Tkarn. I haven’t seen much from her, I think Red is trying to keep her from any critical positions considering how she could potentially swap back to Loekan’s side.

“I’ve made that assumption before, and I’ve been wrong.” I say, “If that doesn’t work we can still use it in a psychological warfare effort, as far as I’m aware ordinary support devices can’t block users, can they?”

“I’m not sure…”

“Well, I’ll try talking to them. I’d rather not, but if they are just complete wastes of time, we can send them endless waves of bad vibes. Death threats, making jokes about their mothers, and such. My home civilisation was working towards perfecting such tactics, and it can be surprisingly effective, with rather little effort.”

A useful outlet for these violent thoughts I’ve been having as well.

“You’re going to send them mean messages?” Eshya asks, looking at me as if I’ve gone mad.

“That’s if I can’t recruit them. And it’s not ‘mean messages’, it’s endless streams of harassment.” I say. “It sounds silly considering we’re literally killing each other in war, but if it can dispirit them, or give them a little doubt about Loekan, or even give them a bad night’s sleep, it might be an advantage to us.”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

I’m sure psychological warfare is still a thing here. That said, it seems this brand of it is unfamiliar to these guys. I should probably get some message blocks and other systems in place in case the same tactics are brought against us. Propaganda and psychological warfare can get rather nasty, rather quickly, especially with the intent to weaponize it.

It kind of makes me wish I could recruit a group of high-school kids from back home. I’m not sure I can manage to put together the necessary vitriol to compare to the experts, but I’ll see what I can manage. Maybe those humans I brought down to the dungeon with me could prove useful after all, I’ll have to visit them and see how they’re going.

“That said, we’re going to have to deal with them one way or another.” I say. “We’ll have to gather greater military strength. I’ll be training myself. I believe in relatively short order I can expand my mana capacity considerably. It should be enough in the short term to overpower Loekan and see this war ended.”

“There are a few Skills that I believe I’m close to learning.” Eshya says, speaking up. “I believe I can make a better effort next battle. I should be able to fight the elites on equal footing.”

A large claim, but she’s no liar. I’m interested in seeing what’s making her so confident.

“Let me fight.” Tkarn says. “I can help with more than just the defence.”

“That’s up to Red.” I say. “For now, we’ll maintain the current war stance while training, and preparing to end things. We’ll discuss ending the war at the end of the week when we can see what our training has done for us.

“Is there anything more that we need to discuss?”

There’s a momentary silence as everyone considers the situation and themselves.

“We need to plan for peace.” Rudolf says, his input a little surprising. “I’m… concerned that when this is over you’re going to drag us into a new war.”

“A new conflict will come for us regardless, but you are right about planning for peace.” I say with a sigh. “We’re exhausting ourselves, and I suspect that some of that comes from my own impatience. Our current plan is to secure the city, and ensure that it’s safe and secure.

“After that, we can finally start acting like people again, rather than soldiers. We can ensure that everyone has access to what they need to pursue their own future careers, hobbies, and whatever else they desire. We’ll need to keep our soldiers trained and ready, but I don’t intend to drag us into another war.”

I breath slowly and stare down at my hands. It feels, right, and good to be here, but the weight is building on my shoulders. A comfort in a strange way, settling my feet and pulling my head out from the clouds.

War should be considered an unfortunate necessity, not the whole raison d'etre for my little empire’s existence. I need to be powerful enough to defend my people from the horrors of war itself, but that feels like a distant and ridiculous dream. I have plans, but I’m still not convinced that they’re realistic.

It’s just another part of my dream, of safety and peace away from all those powerful threats that would destroy us. Then again, the rebels have societies that must be somewhat stable. I’ll have to learn, borrow, and steal, until I have a solution that works.

“You should stop dreaming and get back to reality, Empress.” Red sends, and knowing her as I do, I can taste the sarcasm in her written words.

“Right, right. We need to end this war first. I think diplomacy is out the window, but retreat to another cavern is possible. We need to explore that possibility. I don’t intend to retreat, but we may be forced to it. I’ll discuss with the local lord what he can share with us.

“Red can you spare any scouting teams?” I ask.

“We’ve already done some limited scouting, but not with a full retreat in mind. I can put together some teams.” She says quickly. “I’d feel rather more comfortable with more escape routes.”

“Good. Have the teams put together and made ready. I’ll get some information from the locals and we’ll send them out with a plan and some knowledge. Some of the local slayers might be able to help out too.”

As everyone takes in my message there’s a silence, waiting for another person to bring up a topic.

“Weapons.” Wally says, I’m a little surprised to hear from him, but I’ll welcome his input regardless. “I’ve been working on a number of projects, computer chips for one, but that’s… I’m not an expert and it’s a lot to go through.”

“I’ll have a chance to pick up some experts from Earth in around a month, you can come with me if you’d like.” I offer, hoping that the rebel faction we made a deal with will stay true to our arrangements.

“Yes! Please! There’s so many things I need to get from there.” He says.

I’ll need to ask if he wants to return at some point too. I’m not entirely sure how deeply the Unified States are influencing Earth, so there’s a chance that people here can return so long as they keep their heads down.

I’m not sure how it’ll go for mana though. Being without mana in the long term could kill them now that they’ve developed mana forms.

“I’ve also been trying to make nuclear weapons, but that’s far off. What I have working is a prototype machine gun. It’s… expensive, both in mana and ammo.”

I ignore the equally tempting and ridiculous concept of magical nukes, and focus on the more immediate issue.

“But ridiculously dangerous and effective, I assume. Do you need help testing it?” I ask. “I’m not going to have the time, but I’ll have Red send you a few people familiar with the rifles we have already. How’s mass production going?”

“We’re not there yet.” He replies, I don’t think they have everything they need to even get started properly.

His team is made up of innovators, but I just don’t think they have the spirit for production line work. I’ll talk with Nel and get them a few people that can help take over that aspect.

We have some ridiculously talented people with us, but it always feels like we don’t have enough manpower. I really need to figure out a better means of appealing to people. An advertising campaign, maybe?

In theory we can always go and find students down in the ruins and forcefully gather them up to work for us. It’s the kind of thing that I’m sure the old empires wouldn’t shy away from, but I really do not want to be breeding even more discontent among my people.

“So machine guns. That’ll help big time, can you get them working before the end of the week?” I ask.

“Maybe.” He replies.

I’ll take what I can get.

“Anything else I need to address?” I ask.

“Morale could be better.” Slan says. “People up here are dispirited.”

“My soldiers are fine.” Red declares. “They’re getting used to the monotony and soulless violence that’s required of them.”

Her attempt to allay my concerns is succeeding in doing quite the opposite.

“I see. I’ll give them a speech, convince them that this is just temporary, that we’ll get through this.” I say, already coming up with ideas for how to express my intentions and hopes. “Is there anything else you can think of that would improve morale, especially among the soldiers?”

“Many of them have taken up fighting because of necessity.” Slan says, bringing up a painful truth. “Some of them are starting to think that this is all they’ll have. That they’ll be fighting every day until the day they die.”

“I see.” I nod my head slowly, revising my plans. “We need to give them all hope that there’s an end. I’ve already set our goal to take that city, but they don’t see it as an end. They’re frightened for the future.”

I can relate.

“I’ll convince them that there’s a better future for them when we take the city.” I say. I already know that Red is going to be unhappy with me taking away her soldiers, but while she’s a great soldier herself, she’s not a great person.

I’d also like to find sweets, or some equivalent. I’ve yet to see much in the way of purely pleasure foods here, but I’m sure some chocolate would help morale at least a little.

I don’t want to strip away the personalities of my people just to turn them into weapons. I still need an army, and effective one, but I can’t let the cart get before the horse. I plan to make a better society than the ones I’ve seen so far, we’re forced into compromise right now, but I can’t let that become the standard.

“The best thing for all of us is to see this war finished quickly.” I say. “Focus on your tasks, and we’ll reconvene just before the end of the week to schedule this war. I won’t let it drag on, even if that means that I have to end it myself.”

My words sound the end of the meeting and I let out a long sigh as I stare at the tabletop before me. There’s too much to do and too much that could go wrong, but I refuse to accept failure.

Tapping impatiently at the table, I can feel that I’ve upped the pace. The metronome has gotten broken at some point.

“Okay.” I say, getting the attention of my lovers lounging about the room. Well, Eshya is lounging, Vii and Adler are tense while Nel is refilling my cup of tea.

“I’ll need all of your help for my training. I need to practice seeing through your eyes while casting.” I say.

I’m still stressing my limits as much as I can. I’ll need to finish fully developing into the liquid stage. I can’t afford to let a second go to waste.

“Let’s get started then.” Eshya says. “I’d like to train my swordwork at the same time if we can manage it.”

“Don’t forget class.” Nel reminds us as we get ahead of ourselves. It’s such a strange thing to hear.

From a war council back to class.

Yet, for now, this is what our lives are going to be like.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 3909 units

~Mana distribution:

Category Current Max. Defence 0% 99% Offense 96% 96% Mana Sense 0% 100% Recovery 0% 82% Gluttony 0% 87% Misc. 0% 94% Efficiency 96% 100%

~Favourited Skills:

-Tag and Film

-Trapping

-Mana surge movement

-Annihilation defence

-Annihilation flame burst

-Annihilation net