NOVEL NEXT Chapter 184 – Meeting of Leaders
The Misfits arrived at the ancient glacier without running into Undead armies, which was good and bad at the same time. It meant they didn't attack yet, but it also meant they were still battling, maybe destroying cities all over Meriath. It could be seen from a distance that the capital city of the Berisons was covered in a blue energy shield, and a stream of people was moving in constantly from all directions. The moment they arrived, Rinzen being recognized, the group was ushered in, led past thousands of refugees, straight into the palace where the Council, led by Ayashi, Rinzen's mother, was having an emergency meeting.
"Thank the ancestors!" She cried out, hugging her daughter, relieved to see her. She asked no questions and simply let Rinzen take over.
There was no time for any kind of hesitation or dissonance, so she simply invited Lia and the rest close so they could be part of the meeting between the leaders of the House of Berison. The fact that all communication was lost already alerted the House that they were in extreme danger. The way Reyra left was enough evidence that something big happened, and hearing it from Rinzen's mouth turned everyone's face sour.
"What about our army?" Rinzen asked, and Ayashi simply shook her head.
"All contact was lost. They should follow protocol and head back here, but only a quarter of our forces have arrived so far. We are putting the incoming refugees under quarantine for now… we hoped you would be back! With you here, you can control the ice way better than I, and you could notice spies more easily!"
"I will take over." She nodded, looking around everyone. "We will, for now, only leave up the energy field; if an enemy army appears, I will raise the ice, but that will seal us in."
"There are a lot of people out there!" Keily spoke up, pointing over his shoulder towards the chamber's windows. "Thousands! Will there be enough place for them?"
"Yes," Rinzen replied with a confident smile and closed her eyes.
Soon, the whole region shook once, and when they rushed to the windows, everyone could see how the ice below them started morphing, and new buildings were rising made out of ice, creating an entirely new district. Everyone was initially confused, but soon, the people in the streets started chanting the name Rinzen, raising the morale around the city while her voice echoed far and wide.
"As long as I live, the House of Berison will not fall!"
"Are you fine?" Lia asked, whispering, the only one besides Ayashi who didn't run to see what was happening, remaining with her, looking at Rinzen's tired expression.
"I am. I will try and sleep… that's all."
"That is a good idea." Ayashi agreed, gently stroking her daughter's head, "For all of you!"
"But first, I must establish a connection to the Six." Rinzen rubbed her eyes, enjoying the stroking of her hair before going into a kind of meditative state, using the abundant power under their feet and establishing a direct connection to the outside world.
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"Well… at least I know where my daughter is!" Reyra groaned, rubbing her head inside the commanding tent, surrounded by the leaders of the Houses, the dragons, her sons, and Lucian. They just received news from Rinzen, retelling everything that was happening on their end. She conveyed that she would establish a connection every three days so they could coordinate their moves and plans.
"At least she is safe there…" The Headmaster sighed, feeling relieved as with his current status, he wasn't sure if he could teleport in at all and bring them out.
"She will be fine," Lauron reassured her mother while his brothers also nodded agreeingly.
"Tell that to your father when he arrives… he is bringing our reinforcement with him." Reyra smiled, but her face was exhausted.
Looking around, the situation was not the best. Her sons were already looking recovered, but Dalal, the leader of House Ro, was pale, unable to stand for long, and remained sitting most of the time. She was out for at least the following year when it came to fighting. Same with Kaznak, the head of House Nerifit. He lost an arm in the fight and was currently being prepared to receive a new one; it would take time to adjust to it, not to mention the injuries to his soul that made him just as weak as Lucian.
"How long would it take to raise someone up?" Dalal asked, her voice faint and weak.
"I need to recover myself… I could try it after a year or so, but you should be fit for it too, or it will fail." Reyra answered honestly.
"And improving now seems… easier," Razael interjected suddenly, prompting his brothers to nod. "Since you two advanced naturally," He looked at his mother and Lakhmu, "I also feel more… powerful. Look at Solren; he also advanced. That little moment, while the Realm Gate was open, could have had an effect on us! Talented people should try to do it naturally!"
"Not that we have the luxury, and Solren was ready since at least four years back, weren't you?" Lauron added, patting his brother's shoulder, not minding that he was the only son who hadn't stepped into the Three Ri stage yet.
"I wasn't…" He shrugged, looking disappointed. "I was holding back and gathering power to do it when I could no longer postpone it."
"I'm glad everyone is so confident!" Arcus chuckled, drawing attention to himself. "But we should focus on what we can do now! The Undead always have twelve leaders, twelve souls that are as strong as an Ascendri! We are underpowered right now, so we are in a difficult position!"
"Even though you killed one," Tolemia explained, "They are still above us in raw strength. We can fight back if we face one such individual with our Three Ri mages, but we can only do it when we send twenty against one, if not more!"
"We can't kill them that way." Neesa shrugged, agreeing with the other dragons, "Maybe we can fend them off or injure them, but killing would require multiple Ascendri working together. We always ganged up on them in the war and never fought fairly. So you should never do that either. We have to fight fire with fire!"
"Erias was afraid of this." Appeared a new voice, and to everyone's surprise, Somia appeared before them, projecting herself from Lucian's bracelet.
"I fucking knew it!" Lakhmu exclaimed, slapping the table and pointing at her, "I knew you were alive! All those weird things that were happening back home through the centuries! Information appearing in our systems, blueprints we never knew about! It was your work!"
"I am a daughter of Marduk…" She answered, glancing at him once before letting the others slowly realize who she was.
"You mentioned… Erias?" Reyra asked, and it was news for Arcus and the dragons, too.
"Let me tell you what I can." She nodded, explaining how she learned about Erias and what she did to change her existence and follow in his footsteps.
"Fuuuck…" Dalal, Kaznak, and Lakhmu cursed simultaneously, hearing the Undead's origin and what they were, while Rangi furrowed his brows, already having ideas about it before.
"That is what I can tell you besides that Erias is still working against them. We know that half of them are still on the other side."
"Why do I get the feeling you want us to draw those bastards down here too?" Reyra asked, scrutinizing Somia's appearance, and when she didn't answer, only looked at them, she joined in the cursing, "Fuck."
"You want us dead?" Lakhmu grunted, but Arcus raised a hand.
"She is right. I'm just glad my brother has a helper and is not alone. If he wants them gone from his side, that means he is ready to strike! If their haven is destroyed, we can get rid of them for good!"
"We wouldn't be able to handle all of them at once…" Lucian joined in, worried and troubled, "Look where we are now! We had so many years to prepare… yet we still got pushed this far!"
"The failure to raise Ascendri was the biggest weak point." Somia continued, but her voice was not accusatory. "Erias knew it could be the weak link and could undo any preparation. Reaching that level is not easy. Never was. Look at his time; he was the only one who did it naturally! Now… we have two such people!"
That sentence alone clicked a thought in Reyra and Lakhmu's minds, who looked at each other, slapping their own forehead.
"Of course!" The head of House Marduk groaned, "I can raise others too! Damn it! I will study it at once!"
"I want to do it." Lucian stepped forward before anyone else could, looking at the two natural Ascendri, "Raise me up to the 9th Tier."
"What about your injury?" Reyra asked, scanning him, but physically, Lucian was healthy.
"I should be fine by the time you two are ready to do it. I am confident of that!"
"We are not in a position to say no." Somia agreed, "Erias doesn't need you to bring all their forces out right now. You can do it gradually… and you can stand up to them and hold out."
"Hold out until…?" Dalal asked, and for the first time, Somia formed a small smile.
"Until our complete victory."
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In the Berison's capital city, the mood was what one could call mixed. It was partially positive, knowing that they were not alone and would stand up to whatever came their way… but that was also why everyone seemed to be on edge. Knowing that their city would be under attack by the Undead sooner or later, it was unsure how long they would be able to hold out.
The threat became real the second day after Rinzen took control of the glacier below their feet. She identified forty people who had the stench of Undead on them. Were they mind-controlled? Were they simply affected by miasma but not under their influence? It wasn't really relevant as they were burnt to ash, without question.
"Wish we could tell this easily every time…" Lia whispered, standing with Rinzen on the balcony of the highest tower in their palace, overlooking the huge city.
"We can do that because of my ancestor. All her experience was ingrained into her mana and, through that, into the ice. She knew full well what an Undead spy felt like."
"Oh…! Look!" She exclaimed, and they saw a colossal, at least 6-meter-tall peashooter appear on one of the towers at the main gate.
"Ceiline finally finished it?"
"Seems like it!" Lia giggled, happy and proud. Ceiline has been working hard in the past months and finally managed to create an enlarged version of her peashooters. This one, once again, was mobile… lit by the embers flying off its body, it was clear it could spit giant fireballs from its mouth. It's a perfect weapon against a horde of zombies.
"Another one!" Rinzen pointed, and true enough, eight of them were soon placed upon the walls surrounding the city.
"We will make sure that nothing will get in!" Lia exclaimed, hugging her friend and snuggling up to her, "We are here! The dragons have returned, and they are gathering the armies! When they attack, we just have to hold out until they arrive, and we will decimate the enemy right here, right now! We won't let them get a foothold and start spreading!"
"Um. We won't!" Rinzen nodded, hugging back, "We are from the Six Houses; it is our duty to end them!"
