2116 A Frail Alliance (Part 4)

They were so busy in their respective endeavors and throwing mean looks at each other that they almost didn't notice that it wasn't one person stepping through the dimensional corridor, but two.

Almost.

"What the fuck?" Kigan stepped back in horror.

There was a young girl near Milea and with his mind still haunted by the memories of the past, the figure of the unknown guest overlapped with that of his late niece.

"Your security measures are lacking, but at least your intuition is amazing." The Empress stared at the Phoenix-Balor in misplaced respect. "I didn't expect you to recognize the Red Sun so quickly."

"Why did you bring him here?" At that name, Xenagrosh's eyes became two fiery slits of Chaos and Decay mana.

"To help you, of course." The Empress replied. "While the Bright Day was imprisoned and the Black Night fooled around, the Red Sun has ruled over the Dusk Court.

"Even though he had no authority over the other Undead Courts, the Red Sun plotted with and against them for centuries. He knows all the key figures in the business and how to find them."

"I won't say it's a pleasure to see you again, Xenagrosh, but there's no reason to make our reunion unpleasant." The young girl spoke with a manly voice that was cold and controlled, snapping Kigan out of his delusion.

"Once you are as old as we are, one must learn that a good businessman can't hold a grudge. It's just a matter of losses and gains. At the moment, we have everything to lose from fighting and a lot to gain by collaborating."

"If the Empress has you, then what need did she have for us in the first place?" The Troll-Dragon found the situation suspicious at best. "You are almost as powerful as I currently am and with the knowledge we have shared with the Empress, you should have already found Meln's secret bases.

"Why did you waste our time like this, Empress? Was it a ruse to keep us away from the Kingdom and help Thrud to win the war or was it just a way to test our abilities?"

"I don't have to explain myself." Milea curled her lips in disgust, seeing how low the daughter of her beloved mentor had fallen. "You two are my guests and you'd better treat me with the respect I deserve as your host, otherwise I might forget my manners as well."

She radiated no aura nor killing intent, but the fact that she wore the White Armor and that the White Sword was hung at her hip was threat enough. The armor alone was comprised of tons of compressed Davross, giving her the mass of a full grown Divine Beast

The White Set wasn't the old junk that King Elm had used over one thousand years ago against Valeron during the War of the Blades. Both the armor and the blade were brand new and brimming with power.

Milea's first act as Magic Empress had been to devolve a lot of time and resources to study the ancient blade. Her goal had always been to expand the borders of the Empire in order to occupy the fertile land of the south and feed her people.

Before that, she needed to prepare for the moment when she would clash with Valeron's descendants and their Royal Set. There were several reasons behind King Elm's crushing defeat, but they could be summarized in one word.

Or better, one name. Tyris.

Valeron had been a white cored Awakened, wearing Guardian-crafted equipment that had been enchanted with the first power cores in history, and the creator of Blade Magic.

King Elm had been a Manohar-level genius violet cored fake mage who had unified the Empire and pooled its resources in record time to craft the masterpiece known as the White Set.

Yet against Valeron, Elm had held his ground no better than a leaf against a storm.

The descendants of the First King were just violet cored fake Awakened, but the Saefel Set was even more powerful than in the past.

Tyris hadn't bothered adding new enchantments, but she always updated the old ones with each magical breakthrough. She took care of Valeron's gear as if he could come back at any moment.

Milea had thoroughly studied the White Set with Invigoration and shared her findings with the best mages of the Empire. Hundreds of people had worked for years on it until they had reached the limits of the current magical knowledge.

Only then did Milea bring the blueprints and the old set to Leegaain. He had offered her his insight, fixing the flaws that everyone else had missed and fine tuning each rune until the artifact had become a work of art.

The Guardian had offered her to have Salaark use Creation Magic to split the Davross from the white crystals, but Milea had refused.

"The White Set must be a beacon for the people of the Empire. A guiding light that proves what we can achieve, not the Guardians. Destroy the white crystals and purge the old enchantments with your flames while you purify the Davross, please.

"I don't ask you more than I would any Dragon." She had said.

"What about the hints I gave you?" Leegaain had replied, his curiosity piqued as he couldn't be more proud of her.

"Those are part of our deal. I asked for your wisdom, not your power, remember? I consider those hints not as the act of mercy of a god but as the help of my most beloved friend and mentor." At those words, Leegaain knew that he had been wrong.

He could and was more proud of her than ever. Especially when she had emptied the Empire's treasury to obtain enough purified Davross to make the new White Armor as heavy as the Saefel armor.

The reborn White Set's power was between that of the Arthan and the Saefel sets. Not as outdated as the former but not as masterfully crafted as the latter. Milea was certain that being a real Awakened would more than make up for it when she would have faced Sylpha.

The impasse between the Empress and the hybrids lasted but a second.

"You are wrong on both accounts, Xenagrosh. It was neither." Dusk had no intention of letting Leegaain's daughter and protégé waste time squabbling like children out of the envy they felt for each other.

"Milea gave you her full support since day one. She hid my presence for reasons you'll understand once you hear my story."

He sat down on the nearest chair and gave the Eldritches a quick summary of the events following his defeat at the hand of the Queen's Corpse.

"I apologize for my earlier rudeness, Your Majesty." Xenagrosh gave Milea a deep bow. "I can see why you kept your deal with Dusk a secret. In his weakened state, he can't move on his own and you are the only one who can keep him safe against opponents of our caliber.

"Also, if the Council or the Royals were to discover about your involvement with the Red Sun, they would ask you to hand him over with the excuse of compensating them for his past crimes."