Steel and Mana

Even though we were now allies, seeing Mirian getting into her completed mech was still a nervous moment for all of us. From the corner of my eye, I could see Yuri's mech, the Princess, pointing her spear at the armorless frame of Mirian's machine. It was only equipped with one weapon, a cannon, serving as its left hand, while the Princess brought a shield unit with itself for extra precautions. Still, despite the barebone look and the fact that it was less armed than any of the other three we had, Mirian was ecstatic after seeing it. It was the first time I saw her be nothing but an excited young girl, acting as if she just met with a movie star or something.

"I didn't know an empress could squeal like that…" Luna mumbled, standing beside me, watching Mirian disappear into the cockpit while rubbing the insides of her ear.

"Me neither." Sasha nodded, making me smile because it was indeed a surprisingly sharp, high-pitched yell to hear.

I was expecting her to need a bit of time to adjust, but after the hatch closed and the mech came to life, she was walking with it within the first minute and running by the second. When she fired the cannon at the prepared target about 400 meters away, she got the aim down by the third shot. It took Milan a great deal of pleading to finally ask her to climb out of it; otherwise, she would have kept piloting it until she collapsed.

"I will take it!" She gasped for air, sweaty but still high on the experience. Adrenaline was coursing in her veins, helping her fight off the fatigue.

"You can barely stand." I shrugged, shaking my head and watching her legs shake like jello.

"And? It is awesome! A short rest and–!" But when she tried to take a step, she ended up in her husband's arms. If not for Milan's reflexes, she would be an empress with a broken nose, faceplanting into the hard ground.

"There needs to be more than a short rest." I began explaining, seeing that she was totally exhausted and she had to be carried on Milan's back. "My Knights, piloting these machines are trained for it. Even though you can easily control it, probably more so than my pilots because you are a witch–"

"Hey…" She grunted, making me raise my eyebrows. My honest expression probably made her realize that I wasn't insulting her because she quickly resumed averting her eyes. "Ah. Never mind… continue."

"So… Khm. Piloting it is taxing on your mind and body. We already tested and confirmed the phenomena while developing these machines. Sitting in them, piloting, fighting, it is the same as if you were moving your muscles. The human mind is a wonderful thing, you see. If you fool it that you get burnt somewhere, it will produce the mark, even if the thing that is being pressed against you is an unheated metal. The same concept applies here. Your mind thinks you are moving, doing all this exercise while weighing multiple tons. You will get exhausted!"

"Make it lighter!" She chuckled, still gasping for air.

"The pilots need to be trained for it." I answered back, "Anyway! I am just warning you. If you knock yourself out inside of it, you will be dead."

"Thanks."

"Huh?" I stopped, just as surprised as everyone else around us. I looked at Mirian, who happily hugged Milan's back and snuggled up to him, making him drenched in her sweat.

"It's the first time someone has kept his word and acted normal with me. Except my Milly, of course!"

"Duh. We had a deal!" I shrugged, rolling my eyes. "I don't go back on my words or my deals. A certain level of honesty and decorum is expected, or you will never be trusted!"

"I am used to backstabbing." She answered calmly, clearly in a happy mood. "I also expected you to take the cores and delay the machine's delivery until you would be unable to lie to my face any longer and had to make it. Or just openly refuse to do so."

"Geez!" I couldn't help but laugh while Sasha simply shook her head, looking at her with a bit of sorrow, trying to imagine what kind of environment made her grow up like this. "I get that, honestly. When everyone is thinking about how I can be the ONLY one who WINS NOW and not about how to maintain decades of success, it warps and deforms people's integrity and personality. When your leaders are backstabbing bastards, people without a shred of integrity and honesty, going back on their words all the time, it will trickle down and make their people act the same way. I do believe that you need a reputation, and I am not going to play with that and waste it! If I say something, I do it. So, it is yours, Mirian Ishillia. Do what you want with it."

"As I said… I appreciate that, Sovereign Leon. I do."

"Glad to hear! I try my best to avoid shortsightedness and short-term profit over long-term stability. I want Avalon to be strong and prosperous for me, my kids, my grandkids, and so on."

"Huh… You sound like Ishillia."

"Which one?" I asked, curious what she meant by it.

"The first one. We have very little left that was his, written by him, or the things he said. We don't even know how he looked anymore because we only have recreations of him from centuries later, and they don't even match if you compare them most of the time. But he said the same thing when Ishillia was established."

"Then how do you know he said the same thing?" Luna asked, making Mirian grin, almost as if she was ready for this exact question.

"Care for the future of our people, and the present will prosper. It is one of the sayings within the bloodline that are still with us today. Even though its meaning is probably twisted by the thousands of years that passed…"

"Well, you can use it as your new rallying cry." I suggested, making her think. "Trace your own blood directly to the founder of your empire. Sometimes, it is not a bad idea to return to your roots and make things… straightforward!"

…
….
……

The summer heat was one of the strongest in a long time, and the people living within the Geth Empire were praying for a bit of relief—just a few drops of rain that had refused to come for a month now.

"This heat is killing me…" Kadosa IV groaned, wiping his forehead, pulling off his ceremonial golden robes, and returning from the monthly sermon within the Grand Cathedral of his city. As emperor and the head of the church, it was his duty to lead them while praying to the Goddess Orsi to bless his subjects with a long and prosperous life.

"We are looking at a possible drought." His advisor, Varga, spoke softly while the emperor's maids helped him undress and clean himself in his private chambers.

"Worst possible timing. Ahnud has sent letters that the Roblesians are gathering their armies and that the theocracy fleet has also begun amassing around their main ports."

"I know. I read them." Varga nodded, as he usually distilled all the information coming in and presented only the crucial parts to his emperor. "They are following their own teachings. They will try to take the most for themselves when there is a war between others. They are a conniving bunch. If we march into Ishillia, they will also attack the Sar Empire."

"Lucky that our neighbors are hating each other just the same." Kadosa answered with a joke, now wearing a loose, white robe while the famous Medallion of Life hung from his neck, never taking it off. He was waving his hand for his maids to bring some refreshments for him, turning towards Varga, who was akin to a father to him, more so than his real one. He never really knew the latter as he died while he was still young…

"Yes. We—" But his advisor and mentor suddenly stopped speaking, looking at his bracelet, which was blinking in a bluish light.

"What happened?" Kadosa asked, knowing it was a sign of magic, watching as Varga's piercing, light-blue eyes darted back and forth, listening to a message arriving right then and there.

"Leave us." The old man spoke coldly, and no servant dared refuse his order. Hurriedly, they emptied the room, leaving the two alone, afraid of losing their heads. "We don't know much…" Varga started, his mind working in overdrive, trying to piece everything together from the chaotic message. But it seems the young Empress of the Ishillians has fled their capital city."

"Fled? Wait, what? Is there a coup happening?!"

"Seems like it." The old man nodded, rubbing his clean chin while his white hair was held up in a bun. "There are multiple reports from our spies that the majority of high-ranking nobles have supported Pascal Ishillia, who now denounced Mirian Ishillia and branded her as a traitor of the bloodline."

"That old monster again!" Kadosa hissed, as his appearance the previous time had already been shocking enough. Even he, the owner of the Medallion of Life, couldn't live that long. Although the artifact blessed the Geth Empire's royal bloodline with the longest lifespan in the known world, making his ancestors live 100 and 120 years regularly, that… THING, it was more than 300 years old!

"The fire they lit has become bigger than they probably expected. We must also start moving earlier, or we lose our opportunity."

"I know… I will send the word, but we are caught with our pants off! We won't be able to attack Ishillia, not this year!"

"We can move when the snow melts and the rainy season ends." Varga agreed as they were still preparing siege weapons and ensuring they built up the biggest army the Geth Empire had ever amassed.

They were not only aiming to reclaim any territory they lost to Ishillia before. This was more than that. Since Pascal had revealed himself after Kathrien's death, he became the sole focus of Kadosa IV. An emperor who could live that long and remain hidden… He was a threat. Just as in the ancient tales, when the famous Vasa bloodline was part of this world, they were getting close to unlocking the secrets of the Gods. Right now, Pascal was the proof that the Ishillians may have reached the same way, producing someone who could defy time itself and live… If an Ishillian became a God, the world would be theirs, and nobody could stand against them. That had to be stopped, nipped in the bud.

"I bet Ahnud also knows it." Kadosa spoke, breaking their silence as both men were thinking of their next steps. "I will visit him! We need to coordinate this well because if we succeed…"

"Ishillia may fall in its entirety." Varga finished for him but then added with a slight smile, "Even if not, it would shrink back to a size and power that would no longer prove dangerous for us."

"Don't forget!" the emperor laughed, turning towards his room's window and looking out into the summer heat. "They made many enemies… Those would love to kick them when they are down. They just need an opportunity…"