Transcendence?

***Jamaian Union, Jondul-Harbour***

Finally! Finally! The world is going to be ~mine~!

I watch the progressing bombardment of Jondul-Harbour. It's one of the bigger port-cities under the control of the Jamaian Union.

It's night and the coast is illuminated by flashes of light. My generals were ordered to do this as fast as possible. Time is of the utmost importance while the Jamaian troops are still occupied with Mislow.

This port offers the best starting point for my invasion. There was the possibility to choose between Mislow and Jamaian because both of them are weakened by their rivalries.

I chose the Jamaian Union as my first conquest. They control more land than Mislow and therefore they were forced to place more of their military closer to the border.

My invasion force is coming from the sea which means that the Jamaian troops are completely out of position. According to my generals we should be able to take this city before the enemy can even think about starting to move.

Then we can establish a toehold to conquer the whole main continent! According to my spies we should be able to conquer the most important economical cities of Jamaian before they can withdraw from the Mislow border.

They will march back and find their cities taken by my forces. In front of them will be their own fortified cities. Behind them the Mislow army.

The Jamaian Union is already doomed before the war even started. Then we will have a little talk with them. They will either yield and add their forces to my own or we will crush them without fail.

Of course the rulers of this country will have to swear loyalty to me with a magical contract. I won't allow any disobedience.

After Jamaian is under my control I have to decide between Mislow and the Academy. It's hard to judge which one will be the easier prey.

Mislow has its troublesome mind-magicians. So I guess that invading them with normal troops would take too much of my time. I will have to wait for my personal elite forces to do this smoothly.

Unfortunately I didn't dare to bring them with me because I first had to win a decisive victory against the Nation of Mist. If I had lost my fleet together with my personal troops it would have been a huge setback.

Then there is the Academy which is a whole city with more magicians than you normally get to see in a whole army. Conquering them will be tricky.

I am strong and powerful but I am not stupid enough to try to fight that many magicians at once. The Academy could prove to be my worst enemy so far.

There is Norfolk too. They control a huge area but I don't think that they are of any importance in this equation. Their army is next to non-existent and once I am done with either the Academy or Mislow the others will fall one by one.

I watch the coastline which is illuminated by fire.

Another big explosion lights the night and I can witness one of the tallest visible buildings being torn to pieces.

One of my generals bows to me. “The watchtower has fallen Empress. We will start to land our troops now.”

Idiot. As if I wouldn't have seen that for myself! “See to it that we get the city and it's inhabitants intact. I don't want to see a useless smouldering ruin in the morning.”

He nods and turns back to concentrate on the battle.

Somehow I wish that there would be some other immortals. It's boring to deal just with those useless short lived people. The guys from the Nation of Mist are a little amusing but they aren't aware of the true reality of this world.

If they would remember their previous lives at least. I sigh. I was cursed with wandering eternity until I was blessed with this body.

My attempts to create the ultimate and everlasting peace failed on several different worlds until I arrived here.

Either I failed in establishing a lasting peaceful society once I had conquered the world, or I always died before I could conquer it completely.

A single lifetime simply isn't enough for a goal like that. But my declared goal is to create the perfect society. Everlasting peace all over the whole planet!

I am simply sick of being reincarnated into one warring world after the other. Therefore I will create my own world of eternal peace. If the universe won't give me what I wish for I will create it on my own.

It took me quite some time to forge a society which will always strive for the ultimate and everlasting peace. The Phenex Empire will make my dream come true.

Unfortunately it's impossible to achieve peace without beating the lesser individuals into submission. The elements of a society which yearn for chaos and freedom have to be suppressed.

If I learned one thing during my existence, it's that freedom means war. If everyone is allowed to do what he wants it leads to anarchy. On the other hand too much oppression also sparks war.

It's my goal to find that delicate path between freedom and oppression. And then I have to find a way to have it last forever.

But first I need to get control of this world. There are no other forms of society allowed. Or otherwise people would always wonder if there was a different path.

“We captured the Gate my Empress.” Another one of my military officers bows to me.

“Good. See to it that we can make good use of it.” I smile at the good news. Capturing one of the Gates was another of our primary goals.

I didn't have them on my continent. They are valuable military assets and having one of the enemy Gates is a huge bonus for me. Through the Gates I have access to every important city on the continent.

Maybe I am lucky and they are even connected to the Nation of Mist? Those accursed imitations of elves have hindered my plans for long enough.

It was a pleasure to crush their fleet in the Ocean of God. They are quite crafty when it comes to magic. I didn't expect them to have such tricky spells, because the Academy is thankfully prohibiting the level of technology in this world.

Although we crushed their fleet I still lost about forty ships. It's slowing my advance a little, but if I take some action by myself it should be fine. Though their spells suggested that they have at least some scientific knowledge. Hmmm. Is there another power on the playing field?

Or have they invented those spells by accident? Many great inventions are the product of an accident. But why should someone play with creating bubbles under a ship?

Were they playing around? I can't think of any reason for such an experiment.

Well. It should be solved soon enough. If they suddenly turn up with another new spell I think it's safe to say that another power is at work. If nothing happens it must have been a fluke.

But what would it imply if there is another power? The Academy? No. They are restricting knowledge. On the other hand their most trusted Inquisitors could be well educated.

Another immortal like me? That would be huge news. If I could get him on my side I would have something to fight my boredom.

In any case. The situation at the Academy will decide my next move. I will have to wait for my spies. They should start to arrive through the Gate very soon.

I didn't dare to sent many spies to Mislow. If they had been caught too early it could have created a disaster.

Most of my spies are operating in the Academy, Norfolk and Jamaian, where they organized themselves in cells.

“~Get my spy-master. I want to hear her report.~”

One of my officers nods and walks off. Two minutes later my spy-master Tjena arrives. She is one of the persons I trust the most. Normally she has a very confident expression while facing me. But this time she looks agitated.

“My Empress. I wasn't able to talk to everyone yet. If possible I would like to wait a little longer until I can be sure of my information.” She bows to me.

I arch an eyebrow. “Speak of everything you learned until now. I won't hold you responsible for being the messenger of bad news.”

“It looks like our spy network was uncovered a few weeks ago. The major powers started big searching operations and caught quite a few of our operatives. We get only spare reports from the Academy and even fewer reports from Mislow.

Which had to be expected because Mislow is at war and we hadn't that many spies there to begin with. But we got almost no reports from Norfolk. And according to our few survivors Norfolk was the first nation which started to search for spies on a great scale.” Tjena bows slightly.

“I thought Norfolk has almost no military? And they don't have mind magicians!” This is a little confusing to say the least!

“Norfolk has a very simple society with small villages. Even in the major cities you are bound to arouse attention as a foreigner. Their common ranks have a tight tradition and a wrong word can give you away. It looks like they found one of our spies by accident and got enough vital information from him to justify something which can be called a witch-hunt.

Without a doubt they caught and interrogated many innocents too. But as a result the North is close to a blank page to us.” Tjena doesn't look happy at all.

I tilt my head in thought. “That's a very thin explanation. How can you justify a spy-hunt on such a scale just because of a single caught spy. He would have had to blurt out the scale of our operation and be believed. That's simply unreasonable.” I shake my head. Are the people of Norfolk maniacs?

“It's possible that he was picked apart by a mind magician.” Tjena bows to me. “There is the house of Asceron in Norfolk. It was established by Ascathon Asceron who apostatized himself from the Kingdom of Mislow and joined Norfolk as a free noble. He managed this by graduating the Academy with almost perfect scores and was granted a wish.”

“~Hoooh? Almost perfect scores? And no loyalty towards his birthplace? That must be a very strong and independent individual.~”

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