The Star Of Annihilation

The Star of Annihilation

Chapter 46 – Turbulence (3)

Written by : Eleven

* * *

Tat.
After the meeting with the conservative Nobles faction inside the Capital, Mateo Lancer was immediately called in by the Emperor for a mission. But before that, he decided to go see the Princess, Sistine Ismenian, first.


“Count Mateo Lancer, meets the Royal Majesty.”

“At ease, Mateo.”

Sistine waved her hand like it was nothing, breaking off any kind of pretenses.

“I’m assuming you’ve got the reports for me.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Well, are there any new developments?”

“Yes, quite a lot. In fact…. I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to bring up a name to you, Your Majesty.”

“A name?”

“Yes. A boy with the name of Roy Stone.”

“Ah…!”

Sistine Ismenian recalled the name she had been hearing much about inside the Capital as of late.

Unlike her brothers who had direct access to the meetings and ministry of defense, Sistine was still under the pretext of being ‘too young’, but she still had found her means to receiving information that was highly classified.

Amongst such information, a certain name had been coming up repeatedly.

“What about him?”

“I believe he is someone we desperately need in order to flip the tables on the succession m’Lord.”

“How so? He’s not some political tool and if anything… he’s the same age as me. He will just be treated like a boy rather than anything else he might have talent for.”

“Yes, but I’m sure with the plans that are going on with the conservist faction, he will be brought into the limelight under the pretext of the Young Lions tournament.”

“Oh?”

Sistine gathered her thoughts as she started to use her own deductions to come up with how this could best represent their interests.

“He’s to be scheduled to arrive in the Capital soon and then attend the Imperial Academy for four years, is he not?”

“He is, Your Majesty.”

“So then, he will be enrolling at the same time as I, will he not?”

“Indeed that is the case, Your Majesty.”

“Well.. normally that would be the case, Mateo.”

“….?!”

The Princesses’ odd choice of words confused Mateo as he looked up to meet her cold and serene gaze.

She was still only twelve years-old, but her cheek bones were well defined, her baby fat disappeared, and her pearl-blue eyes calm as a lake.

“Don’t give me such an expression, it’s not what you think.”

“My apologies, Your Majesty.”

“At ease, my father gave you a summons recently and I know you are going there next. That being said, I might as well tell you what I know.”

“What is wrong, Your Majesty?”

“A Demon King is rampant right now and is chasing after this boy and his master, Lucius, the Fourth Swordmaster of the Empire. You and Aurelia are going to be summoned to help with the extraction team. The situation is not looking good.”

“A Demon King is personally moving?!”

“Yes, it seems prior to them starting their training in earnest, they came across something unusual. Otherwise, the movements of a Demon King just don’t make sense.”

“I see….”

“Yes, it’s not an ideal situation. However, you will be briefed on it in more depth by my father once you are done here. You should get going now actually.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty.”

Count Mateo raised his head as he put on a navy blue cloak with the insignia of a red lion on the back. It was the insignia of the Lancer household, and he turned around after giving his farewells to the Princess.

He left the chambers of the Royal Princess and went to the department of Ministry and Defense, where the Emperor and others would be waiting.

* * *

“Aurelia and Mateo are present I assume?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. They are waiting outside. Shall I bring them in?”

“Yes, thank you Demetrius.”

The Emperor thanked the servant as the servant brought in Aurelia the 7-star Archmage and known as the red Tower Master, as Mateo Lancer, the seventh and youngest Swordmaster of the Empire, followed behind them.

“Count Lancer, Tower Master, I assume you both are well?”

Nod


Aurelia, the Red Tower Master, was a young woman at the age of twenty-seven. Mateo was considerably a decade younger, but both of them had youthful appearances.

The red, wavy hair of Aurelia was bright and vibrant against her pale skin and black dress. It served as quite the contrasting set of deathly colors, and gave true to her aura as the Red Tower Master, the Tower in charge of the War Mages.

She had slaughtered countless Demons, humans and many other opponents on the battlefield and learned that words were cheap in place of actions.

Giving a silent nod, both her and Mateo acknowledged the Emperor’s wishes to keep it formal and quick to the point.

“So, how much do either of you know about the situation?”

“Not much sir, I heard we were required for an extraction of the Swordmaster Lucius from Demon Territory.”

Mateo replied to the Emperor as he tried to only give what details would be sufficient.

“And Aurelia?”

Navaro looked towards Aurelia to gauge and see how much she knew, but Aurelia shook her head as she replied.

“I apologize, Your Majesty. I did not know anything prior to the summons. I assume you need me for something dangerous though, seeing that Count Lancer’s remarks seem to hold some truth in them.”

“It’s completely alright. What matters is that you are both here so, let me go ahead and confirm some guesses you might have.”

Navarro stood up at the table to the conference room they were present in.

On the center of the table, was a map of the entire Northern Continent.

“If you look here, this is a small device that is moving to the coordinates in the Fourth Swordmaster’s communication crystal.”

Navarro pointed to a small bead on the table that was in the middle of the Demon Territory.

“The thing is, the Fourth Swordmaster, Lucius, was training there with his disciple for the past two years and is currently being chased.”

“Who exactly are the opponents?”

Aurelia asked as her eyes narrowed.

Aurelia knew this was not a simple opponent if the Fourth Swordmaster could not escape on his own two feet, and even needed an extraction.

“That’s the problem. It seems the Demon King of the Serpentine Family is en route to capture them, and his entourage of Royal Guards. However, the good news is that the other Six Great Families have not shown any signs of movement.”

“The Demon King Alar….”

Aurelia clicked her tongue as she recalled the name of the Demon king belonging to the Serpentine Great Family.

“You are correct, Aurelia. The plan is simple, but dangerous and I have my faith you will also use your best judgement when it comes to engagement.”

Navarro looked Aurelia and Mateo in the eyes slowly as if to make sure they understood just how dire the situation was.

One mishap could lead to all-out war with the Demons again. In fact…. If the Demons wanted, they already had enough evidence to go forth with it,

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Both Aurelia and Mateo spoke up and acknowledged the responsibility.

“Good, Tubel will open a warp portal for you both to get to the border quickly. When you arrive, Aurelia will set up the fortress and enhance it in case of any necessary engagement or conflict. I would rather not have to see you use your magic, but the situation is highly likely to require it, since Lucius and his disciple need rest and I will need Mateo to retrieve them both and bring them to the border safely.”

Gulp.
Aurelia swallowed her saliva as she looked to Mateo who was standing expressionlessly to the right of her.

‘Count Lancer has to make it to the border and then I’ll likely have to bomb and mortar a Demon King all by myself….’

Their chances were slim in all honesty, of being able to pull off a perfect defeat of Alar, but it was clear that the minimum forces required were only for an extraction, nothing else.

“Will Tubel remain on scene as well?”

Mateo asked as he was a little worried, but did not let it show on his face.

“Yes, he will be there ready to act if anything goes awry, and in order to warp you all back in the worst-case scenario.”

Navarro Ismenian looked at the two superhumans across from him with a worried expression.

This was a 7-star Archmage, and probably the most gifted Swordmaster on the face of the Earth in terms of talent. But the one they were trying to save was someone that was pivotal to the future Navarro was trying to strive towards.

‘Roy Stone. You are the key.’

Navarro Ismenian recalled the visions he had seen in the artifact room with the mirror that allowed him to gaze into possible futures.

Recently, when these past two years were coming to an end on the deadline for Roy’s training, Navarro had started to see something slightly different in the terrible futures he had always been troubled with.

Roy Stone was the one to change it all.

Chapter 46 – Fin