Origin Seeker

After everyone got up from their seats, the President led them down to the lower floors. 

After stopping on one of the floors, everyone piled into an arena room. This room was like a stadium and it had a big stone platform in the center. It really was simply just an arena room.

"Dream, Eritai, step up to the platform."

Both people nodded, and the 32 year old disciple, Eritai, quickly jumped over to the platform in one bound. Dream just took his time as he cuddled Iris' tails one last time.

"Just don't kill the guy."

Luna spoke to him, smiling.

"I won't try."

"If you do, save his body for me." (Iris)

"I don't think his master would like that, but okay."

After Iris hopped off his shoulders, only then did Dream make his way over to the platform. As he did, Eritai changed his clothes into a type of karate gi, except his shirt was off, and his rippling muscles were bare for all to see.

Dream changed into some athletic shorts, getting rid of his pants, shoes, and shirt. As he did some unnecessary but reflexive stretches, he pondered on what weapon he should use.

'That guy is using a sword. Should I use one? Or maybe just use fists? I definitely shouldn't use my guns... Ah, whatever. Aegis, give me a sword.'

'Of course, my lord.'

Suddenly, a knife solidified in Dream's hands. It was made from Aegis, and the knife had been made visible after Aegis bonded the particles. It was a simple bowie knife over a foot long.

"You also use a knife, Dream?"

The Emperor spoke from the seats beside the platform. 

"I mean, I can use a knife."

"Why don't you use your ranged weapons or magic?"

"...How long do you want this battle to last?"

"However long it takes for one of you to defeat each other."

"Then I'll use the knife."

Saying that, Dream just kept the knife. These people obviously wanted a show, so he didn't mind giving it to them. 

"You sure about that, Dream? This disciple's sword will hurt you should you be careless."

"I'm fine, President."

"Very well. I'll call the battle. Both sides ready?"

"Ready."

"Ready."

Both youths nodded. Eritai drew his sword with a bit of disdain while Dream just jumped around, trying to get himself hyped.

"Start."

*Woosh*

Right on the mark, Eritai dashed over to Dream. As he did, Dream got a gauge on his speed.

'Hmm. Just barely A-. Wonder what his strength is.'

Standing there, Dream just waited for Eritai to reach him. And once he did, Eritai slashed down directly with his sword.

*Ding!*

"Oh?"

Everyone watch as Dream simply blocked the downward slash with the knife. 

"Your strength should be a little higher than A."

Dream looked at Eritai, who snorted. 

Although Dream's strength was also only A, he knew how to use his strength to its utmost, and even beyond its limit. It was all about control, and he had ultimate control over his body. Not to mention his magic that controlled not only heat, but vibration. Basically, he could create or affect movement with mana.

When he had blocked Eritai's sword, the force was simply dampened by his body, and any that hadn't been dampened was sent into the floor. He hadn't even needed to use mana in order to decrease or redirect the force.

But of course, Eritai wasn't convinced. He hadn't even used his own mana.

Pulling back, Eritai moved and slashed with his sword again. This time, it was loaded with mana, and the sword began to harden as well as activate the enchantment on it. The sword flamed with fire and its temperature soared.

*Ting!*

*Woosh!*

After their blades collided again, the sword burst out with flames and blasted against Dream's body. 

"Let's see. Fire enchantment whose purpose is to guide your fire mana and eject at the point of contact. It also heats up the temperature of the opposing blade, seeking to try and structurally damage it. It also tries to disturb the opposing blade's enchantment with your own fire mana. Not the worst enchantment I've seen."

"Huh?"

Jumping backward, Eritai separated from Dream. As Dream described exactly what the enchantment on his own blade did, Eritai looked at Dream and found that there were no wounds. Neither on him nor the knife.

As everyone listened, they were surprised. Especially the master of this disciple, Tolsar. He had given that sword to Eritai, and its enchantments were mostly a mystery to outsiders. Not to mention how Dream had read the enchantment from just an exchange of blows.

"How did you know about that enchantment?"

"I just read it."

"How?"

"By scanning the sword. I'm an enchanter too, you know."

"But that sword was enchanted by a class 4. The mana barrier around it should block anyone from seeing or affecting the enchantment."

"Actually, not really. How do you think he injects mana? There's always a way in. Besides, I can easily break past a simple mana barrier like that."

"..."

Tolsar went quiet, not knowing what to say. Eritai though, was more angry than impressed.

"Can you take this seriously? You haven't even fought back."

"Then come slash at me again. I'll hit you if you really want."

"Hmph. Then try and take my most powerful attack."

"Just make sure it doesn't take forever to prepare."

"It doesn't. Hahh!"

With a shout, Eritai's sword began to glow red. He also took a stance, pointing the sword at Dream. His muscles bulged and strengthened, the enchantment went full power, and his power increased. 

Dream could sense all the mana being dumped into the sword and his body. It looked impressive, but really wasn't.

"Hupp!"

Eritai dashed over, thrusting his sword toward Dream. The sword seemed to weave around, and Eritai's movements attempted to throw anyone off who was looking at them. He used all his speed, and all his power was directed to the tip of the sword. But Dream, baffling everyone present, actually put away his knife. He then brought up his hand.

*Ting!*

With a loud sound, Dream caught the sword that was thrust to his chest with his bare hand. This halted the sword and Eritai, who was slackjawed. 

But not being finished, Dream moved quicker than Eritai could keep up with and kicked his legs. He was swept off his feet and his body was suspended. Then, Dream chopped down with his arm,

*Boom!*

The ground was rocked as Eritai was slammed into the floor. Cracks could be seen, and it had indented the platform a bit.

Dream squatted down over Eritai, who now had a large bloody mark over his chest where Dream had chopped. 

"You good princess? I didn't break any bones, other than maybe a rib. But you're tough. It shouldn't take long to heal."

"Eritai?"

Flying over, Tolsar came and checked out his disciple. After scanning him and seeing he was fine, he sighed.

"Thank you for taking it easy, Dream."

"Sure."

"Well, I guess we know who the winner is. Impressive performance, Dream."

Everyone else came flying over as Eritai was being helped up. He struggled to breathe for a bit, but was eventually fine.

"Yes very impressive. You didn't even use your weapons. And grabbing that sword bare handed requires a tough body. How's your hand?"

"It's good."

Dream raised his hand to the Emperor. Everyone looked and saw nothing on it. 

"Tougher than I thought."

"Thanks. Now, I believe we have another stop to make."

"Indeed. If we can, President, we should head out today to the Mountain."

"Sure. Ready when you are."

"Then let's go now."

After wrapping things up, everyone began to head out of the pagoda. 

After leaving 4 people behind, the President along with all the other class 4's from the Empires and Church boarded the planes. Their next stop, the Enchanted Mountain.

...........

Only half an hour later, Dream was landing the ships on the floating castle above the Mountain. The class 4's had already come out to greet them.

"Emperor. President. I welcome you back to the Enchanted Mountain."

An old bearded man came up and shook their hands. This was Shane, the man who had presided over the grand meeting and the Director of the Enchanted Mountain.

"Director, thanks for meeting us on such short notice."

"Of course. And Pope. It's a pleasure to meet you in person."

"Likewise Director."

"Come. Let's go to the hall."

Guiding everyone inside, Shane led them into the same grand hall that they had their grand meeting in.

After sitting down, the Pope, Emperor, and President all began their talk with Shane. It was the same as with the President. They went over the demon threat, the most recent battle, the Church's forces, Dream becoming the head of logistics, and finally, the need to go to war.

After hearing and discussing everything, Shane went quiet, as did the other class 4's who had been absent. Including Shane, there had been 7 class 4's absent. And all of them were enchanters or blacksmiths or some other kind of craftsman. Of course, they all could fight at the class 4 level, but they choose to focus on crafting.

"...Hearing everything, I guess there isn't much of a choice. Although the costs will be huge, what good is money if there is no Empire. I'm willing to support this war."

"The declaration is right here."

Smiling, the Emperor passed the document to Shane. He signed it with his mana.

And after him, the others who were absent also signed it, along with that one who hadn't before. But although they signed it, Dream didn't really sense their willingness.

The truth was, just because they were signing this didn't mean that they fully agreed with the war. Maybe on the outside they did, but there was no way to know their true thoughts. 

But Dream didn't care. Now, every class 4 had signed this declaration, and they would all support it because everyone else was. Not to mention how the church was there to put pressure on them to act. The Pope had flaunted his cardinals after all, and everyone knew that just the church had more class 4's than any one Empire. 

As Dream looked at the declaration filed with signatures, he smiled. The Emperor and Pope also smiled.

"The declaration of war has been unanimously approved. Starting tomorrow, we will start finalizing war plans. As for the troops, they can stay at the Mercenary Empire where they can be quickly mobilized."

"The church will also start assembling forces. All we need before we start moving are Dream's bracelets."

"By the end of the week, everyone should be equipped. After that, I'll have to make a trip over to the animal Empires and begin preparations there. Along with the production of my ships, I say the soonest we can begin launching operations is in a month."

"Then during that month, everyone will make all the preparations we need. We can all communicate over the bracelets, so any communications can be made at any time. Oh, and we need to start sending Dream resources."

"Our Mountain will be able to handle most of that. You can just hand me a list, Dream."

"Sure."

"Then since we've established everything, I believe it's time to return to our Empires. Word will be sent out to the public, and there's going to be a lot of managing that needs to be done."

"Indeed. Then President, Emperor, Pope, I bid you all farewell."

"Likewise."

Saying their goodbyes, the forces of the Church, School, Spire, and Mercenary Empires all left. 

Dream sent out the Pope and his forces on one ship back to their holy city while the rest got on other ships and went back to their own Empires. Although, many class 4's were still going to be kept at the Mercenary Empire, so only some people went back to their home Empire.

............

After Dream had dropped everyone off, he and the girls went back to the dome.

"We're home."

The three walked in and went straight for the couches. Riddick and Selene watched them flop down with a smile.

"How'd it go?"

"Perfect. Every class 4 besides those two hidden people from the Spire have signed the declaration. Once I get my bracelets and some ships made, everyone will begin mobilizing and running operations. I gave it a couple of weeks before our first mission."

"That's good. So it's going to take a couple of weeks for you to build everything?"

"Yup. Though I'm starting distribution tomorrow. I've already got about 150,000 bracelets ready, and that alone will be able to create a substantial network."

"...I can't believe you're able to make that many. How will you even be able to manage them all?"

"Well, they all connect to each other and my satellites, which are more than enough to handle this amount. I mean, it's not like there are billions of devices connected at once like my homeworld, so I don't need a crazy amount of infrastructure. Plus, Sophia has made an AI that can compile everything automatically. When you think about it, managing everything is rather simple."

"Nothing is simple about managing millions of devices, but alright. Anyway, you'll need to go over to the animal kingdoms soon, right?"

"Within the next few weeks, yes. For that I was planning on taking Idona with me. She's an elf, so she'll be a good guide. And then a Cardinal or the Pope will probably come with me to contact the church forces. For the dwarven Empire and the United Empire, the church will also probably help. So overall, I should be good. Though I'll have to make even more bracelets, my production is accelerating the day."

"Good."

"Are you sure we can't come with you?"

Luna asked as she cuddled against him.

"That's going to have to be a no. For you guys, the animal continent is enemy territory. I'm not taking any chances. But don't worry. I won't be gone long. Probably."

"Probably?"

"Well if the Empires decide to be a bunch of stubborn assholes, then it may take longer."

"That shouldn't be much of a problem. Animals value their territory a lot, and from what I had picked up on, they were already beginning to fight back. At least for the United Empire, you shouldn't have any problems. Though the others, I'm not as sure."

"Alright. I wish I could take you, Selene. That would make things much easier."

"Maybe if I reached class 4. Then we would be able to stand up to my father. But I still have some ways to go."

"Maybe as we fight the demons, everyone will be able to level themselves up."

"Speaking of. Dream. How is your army doing against that demon army?"

"Them? Well, I've leveled up to level 242 and about 17 million of them have been killed. So I'll say good."

"You killed 17 million..."

"Took a while though. My bots can only kill so fast, as you guys saw. Plus, they're really spread out. I had to send in my planes to help out. But they should be dead by today. I'm really looking forward to the materials I'm gonna get out of them."

"Wait, you're going to use all those corpses?"

"If I can, yes. Although the Mercenary Empire is also going to send out troops to recover a bunch of the bodies as well, so they're going to get a lot too. But I'm definitely going to get most of the weapons. That's a lot of metal to be got."

"..."

The three stared at him for a bit before shaking their heads. They couldn't even be surprised anymore.

Sp4de

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope everyone is having a good day. I decided to drop a few chapters, so I hope you enjoy the read. I had thought about doing a side story Christmas chapter, but then I totally forgot and now it's too late. Maybe I can write it late? Or maybe I can do a New Year chapter. It could be like an alternate universe where Luna and Iris were on Earth with Dream for 2020. 

Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas with loved ones. I myself got a family party where I'm gonna get shot with nerf guns and get my hair pulled by children. It's gonna be great... totally...

But hey there's gonna be candy and pie so it's all good! And I got some comfy boots to keep my feet warm. I'm excited to wear them.

Merry Christmas!

With cheers,

Your friendly neighborhood Creato