《Glory of the Witches》


 1 Grayscale Empire’s Worldwide Disaster

    "This is impossible!" Linneia cried. Tears dropped down from her crystal clear limpid gray eyes. Her gaze was filled with indignance and helplessness.


    "It is true. Do you think I will lie to you all?" Roland sighed. Anna grabbed his hand and squeezed hard to give him some semblance of support without saying a word. Her brow creased with worry.


    Linneia Wimbledon was the current crown princess of the Witch nation, the Grayscale Empire, a direct descendant of Roland and Anna from a long line of succession. She still could not believe what her ancestors told her.


    She was the most illustrated witch of her generation; the best of the best. However, their current world was plagued with the latest S-rank disaster.


    The first warlock king, Immortal King Roland Wimbledon, together with his queen, Immortal Queen Anna Wimbledon had managed to unify the land and they had found the secret to immortality after defeating their strongest adversary at the time.


    After a period of more than 3000 years, the Witch nation, Grayscale Empire, had flourished tremendously with the advancement of science and technology melded together with magic hand in hand.


    At this moment, mortals, witches and other races alike lived harmoniously in a modern world. Roland had managed to bring forward the information age of his previous world into his empire and even has pushed forward incredible innovation to make his empire stepped into the next era before retiring for good with Anna by his side.


    However, peace was really fleeting; an unknown threat had started spreading on their land in the form of large scale natural fire disasters. The temperature of the planet was rising steadily but surely. It was the enhanced version of global warming. Forest fire started burning rampantly at every corner of the globe without any reason. Loss of lives, assets and infrastructures made the citizens plunged into a worldwide scale panic.


    At the beginning, the fires were curbed by the witches working with the other valiant citizens. Nonetheless, the scale was getting larger until both Immortal King Roland and Immortal Queen Anna were forced to came out of seclusion to assist in the effort to solve the problem.


    The current elite witch researcher team spearheaded by the competent Crown Princess Linneia Wimbledon was unable to find the root cause of the matter, but only able to become firefighters; they were able to predict the location of the disaster beforehand a few hours before it happened through calculations and magical augury methods.


    This had saved a lot of lives.


    However, it didn''t solve the problem. Refugees were flocking into the Neverwinter Imperial Capital at every second.


    The lack of arable land had reduced the agricultural sectors worldwide as crops combusted into ashes intermittently at various locations. They were entering an emergency state.


    After Immortal King Roland and Immortal Queen Anna joined the research team, they had finally managed to find the root cause efficiently. Linneia and co. were dumbfounded by the speed. True to the legend, their ancestor king and queen were the twin Gemini genius of the empire from immemorial time.


    "The planet we are living in is facing certain destruction, ladies and gentlemen. This is the ultimate truth."Roland stressed the main point.


    "However, through the help of all of you, we have managed to calculate the time that we have before the death of our sun." Roland tapped his fingers gently on his favorite study table.


    He was feeling suspicious; why was their sun dying in the first place? It was too fast! The death of a star should take billions of years to happen!


    The death of their star would be in the form of a supernova since it was so much larger than the sun of his previous world. It will mean a total wipe of all planetary bodies in this solar system including the current planet they were living in.


    Supposedly, if it did, it would''ve shown signs as early as when Roland transmigrated into this world.


    He would''ve transmigrated into an intense desertified planet beforehand.


    Roland could smell something fishy; however, he kept it in his heart. Divulging his suspicion will only increase the panic of his citizens. As usual, from Anna''s limpid eyes, he knew Anna had the same suspicion as him.


    A group of old men and women of all ages with panicky but hopeful expressions while staring at their ancestor king. In their mind, there was still hope. After all, Immortal King Roland had been the guardian of their planet for centuries. They had heard grandeur stories of his might. He must have a solution. He always does!


    "What can we do to remedy this, my king?" Linneia spoke the question which hovered in everyone''s mind. This was her home; she needed hope that it could be saved.


    Roland turned his gaze to his latest descendent, "Currently, nothing."


    Linneia lost her composure and swayed. Her colleagues helped supported. They were too afraid to speak to the ancestor king directly. Linneia had been working with the rescue efforts for nearly a year''s time and had seen a lot of things. Her nerve had been chaffed thoroughly when her hope combusted with her ancestor''s words.


    "How long do we have, ancestor king?" King Azul spoke grimly. He was the current king of Grayscale Empire.


    "After lengthy discussions, we concluded that we have at most five years before the surface of the planet becomes non-livable. Another 50 years before our sun bursts and disintegrates everything in its path including our planet. At that time, nothing will survive."


    Roland sighed when he observed everyone''s expression. Some of them could not stand as their legs turned to jelly from the frightening facts. The news was too shocking indeed. What they were actually experiencing was the effects of their sun expanding and getting brighter. This showed that the death of the star was imminent.


    It was obvious to Roland and Anna since they could compare the sun''s intensity 3000 plus years ago to the current sun. Only the both were left from that era after all. Once they went out of seclusion they had felt something was wrong with the sun.


    After a lengthy discussion with the royal astronomer''s team, with complicated calculations and theorems, they managed to verify their conjecture. The gigantic star that they were relying on was truly dying, and they had no way to reverse the process.


    He knew what they were thinking. But it was useless. The problem was on the sun of their solar system, not on their planet itself. They have not developed enough to fix their own sun. The distance itself was a challenge. It was not like Earth, which was positioned quite close to the proximity of the Sun. Their sun was many times larger and their position was further out.


    It was a blessing in disguise. A few planets near their sun has been absorbed into the sun itself. Moreover, the heat would be unbearable at a higher rate. Even now, many areas had undergone desertification which worries Roland all the more.


    Roland sighed again while looking out through the french window.


    "We need to move out. Globally."

 2 Taking Action

    The current key members of the government and representatives of the Witch Union were distraught with shock, worry and sadness with the current developments. Men and women alike could not fathom their ancestor king''s idea. Where can they move to? Won''t it be useless?


    Looking at their faces, suddenly Roland missed the ever accomodating Barov and the competent Edith, his two right hand man and woman. Roland could only sensed total trust from them, and the intense will to carry out his order. The current generation was not composed enough.


    Roland tapped his study to get their attention while saying, "What I mean is, we need to migrate out of this planet, ladies and gents. That was the only solution I can think of."


    Another bombshell.


    These people had never entertain that notion. All this while, they were trying hard to accomodate issues within their vast empire. Some semblance of studies had been done pertaining to space but was quite limited since the budget allocated to it was miniscule. Nobody could see the significance, until now.


    The Witch Union fare a bit better; they had Extraordinaries researching on space and its surrounding. Some witches had powers withunique properties, needing them to be tested in a space-like environment. However, the efforts were still considered entry level.


    "The most crucial parts are, how to migrate, and where to migrate. Staying here will be akin to letting ourselves die without giving a last-ditch effort. We need to develop the necessary technology as soon as possible." Roland explained with confidence.


    "Linneia, you shall round up witches under the category of spatial properties and teleportation properties from the union to form a new research team with the objective of intergalactic travel.


    Queen Anna, in the meantime, will take over to lead a team consists of fire-based witches and water-based witches in the rescue efforts. Include a medic team and the army as well."


    He smiled gently at Anna, eyes shone with deep love. He knew Anna was a person who would like to be involved and help out. Anna gratefully returned Roland''s smile sweetly. Their gaze locked on each other for a minute longer.


    Everyone in the study sweated.


    They can even flirt with each other in public now! What a flagrant show of lovey doveyness! The perks of being the highest authority of an empire is great for sure.


    Linneia gave an awkward gentle cough, "Noted, your Highness. I need a day to round out everyone."


    She directly went out of Roland''s study and took out a device similar to a smartphone. The difference was only at the top part where a bluish stone emitting light. It was the magic stone turned into wave receptors cum energy supply.


    "It''s me. Stop whatever you''re doing. Return to Neverwinter Imperial Capital now. I will explain later. You got until 0900 tomorrow to arrive." She called several witches and gave the same instruction.


    While Linneia was on the move, Roland liaised with the ministers necessary for ample resources, transportation and constructions. They were to efficiently transport refugees, provide support, filled up the granaries and start on an underground bunker project simultaneously. All works will be spearheaded by King Azul and the king will report back to Roland on the updates as soon as possible.


    Roland was not worried over his great grandson-in-law''s competence; Azul did well in following the policy he had implemented. He was the previous generation''s most celebrated scholar before he wedded their descendant, Maia.


    Queen Maia, the wife of King Azul, was the current strongest witch. She was an Extraordinary with very high level of comprehension. Thus, she had evolved her inner magic core four times. She was on par with King Azul in terms of intelligence. Queen Maia''s team, which consists of four Extraordinaries, were tasked to converge their energy to uphold a gigantic protective shield covering the whole Neverwinter Imperial Capital and its vicinity while waiting for the underground bunker to be completed.


    After the whole day meeting, everyone dispersed with their own tasks to complete in mind. All for the sake of only one objective; to survive the impending doom. The clock was ticking, and they were running out of time.


    ...


    Roland heaved a heavy sigh while looking out of his favorite french window. He didn''t wait for the participants of the meeting to dispersed.


    [Will all end here finally? Can we make it in time?] He pondered hopefully.


    All the participants of the meeting went out of Roland''s new study silently, not wanting to disturb their ancestor king. Pasha materialized beside him.


    "What can we do to help, your Highness?"


    Pasha was not in the form of an orange blob with tentacles anymore. She had resumed a flesh and blood body with her own original looks.


    After they won the Battle of Divine Will and crushed the Bloody Moon, Roland had managed to extract her soul, placed it inside his dreamland and bioengineered a new body for the ancient witch with precision.


    She could now wear the excellent tailor-made body like the most comfortable clothes and shed it at will without ruining it. Acclimatization of the body was reduced to only a year as compared to fifty plus years before. Even their receptors could adhere to the personalized body, making them able to feel again.


    "Please travel around the globe with Celine and the rest as fast as you can in your astral form to get a general idea, what is happening globally. Report to me. After that, move forward to space to investigate the real cause of the increased speed of our sun''s gradual death." Roland made a grim expression.


    Pasha was shocked with the revelation. She immediately placed one hand on her chest and bow, "As expected of your Highness. You suggest there is foul play involved?"


    "Most probably. It was very unusual. Through my calculation, we should have billions and billions of years before the current situation happens. The aging of the sun had been hastened artificially"


    "We will move out immediately." Pasha was serious this time. Only a small number of Taquila ancient witches were left. They were the actual backbone of the empire. Only Roland had the authority to mobilize them in times of emergency.


    "Another thing. Whatever you encounter, do not engage. I repeat, do not engage. Just scout and report back. Your safety is top priority. If they have the technology to do this, we will be no match for them right now" Roland besought her seriously.


    Pasha felt warm inside. It was the best decision for the Taquila witches to follow this benevolent king. "As you wish, your Highness."


    Pasha de-materialized and dissipated from Roland''s side.


    Roland was left alone, as he sat back and reminisced his previous struggle for the sake of humanity. Right now, the fate of the whole planet and its multiracial inhabitants was placed on his shoulder again. The pressure was several times larger.


    [I really need to retire from all this.] Roland lamented.

 3 Spaceship Construction Research Group Part 1

    At 0900 sharp of the next day, Linneia waited for her team inside of Roland''s new study. She stood quietly beside the sitting ancestor king, just like a competent assistant.


    Her nervousness from yesterday''s news has dissipated. Her mind was sharp again after a day of rest and focus. She spent the rest of her time formulating a proposal filled with action items they needed to complete.


    Roland was reading through the proposal seriously on a tablet-like device mounted on his table. He just finished reviewing the list of witches and their corresponding abilities in the Witch Union file.


    The number of witches joining the union was very high, a few thousand, to date.


    They have been segregated systematically according to their type, affinity, power level, and the number of times their magic core being evolved. As usual, the number of assistant witches was three fold higher than combat witches which delighted Roland immensely. They were the backbone that propelled the prosperity of Grayscale Empire on a high-speed railway track.


    [This girl has a bright future. Her mind operated well like a conventional scientist.] He nodded satisfactorily with the tabulated list and proposal.


    A knock resounded on the door.


    "Come in." Roland responded.


    "Your Majesty Ancestor King!" A group of ten witches curtsied together neatly.


    Linneia took a step forward and turned around to face her ancestor confidently.


    "I proposed two main methods for space travel. We will divide the team to two; the first team will be the Spaceship Construction Research Group, while the latter will be the Interstellar Gate Research Group as written in the proposal." Linneia explained to Roland.


    "And what is the relevance for making two groups for this?" Roland tested Linneia''s competency while he probed the witches in front of him with his mental powers.


    To his surprise, all the witches in this group had a second or third level of evolved magic core although the majority looked barely twenty. As his empire grew larger and stronger by the day, the education level of the citizens of his empire has grown higher and higher. This proved to be very beneficial towards the evolution of the witches'' magic core as they understood their own gifts at a deeper level with the help of the advance knowledge.


    "We have been focusing on development for the betterment of the empire and its citizens. Although we haven''t branched out towards space exploration, preliminary research has been conducted with minimal funding. Namely, we already have a series of flying vehicles in operation for military and public use in the last ten years ago."


    Linneia walked respectfully to the front of Roland''s study, took a flat circular metallic device from behind her neck, and placed it on top of the table. The metallic device floated five inches above the table and produced a 3D hologram diagram of flying aircrafts and hover cars of differing models with their specifications.


    She attached a metallic skeletal glove on her hands and started to turn the diagrams in 360 degrees. She zoomed in a couple of specifications which she thought was the best among the best designs.


    "Besides that, innovation on space storage had been successful since three centuries ago. Recently, there has been a breakthrough in the space storage technology where we can store living things inside." Linneia recapped all the notable advancement that occurred during her great grandfather''s absence.


    The diagram of 3D vehicles disappeared and were replaced by a row of circular white objects with a single gray button at the middle each.


    After the button of the first object was pressed by Linneia, the scenery showed row after row of wheat field in a vast space cultivated under artificial light and sprinklers.


    She pressed a button of the next circular white object beside it. The scenery was the same, but the fields were replaced with corn.


    Roland was truly intrigued. They have really come far.


    Afterwards, Linneia introduced the witches one by one to Roland.


    "The core of the hovering vehicle has been developed by Anya, one year after she became a witch and evolved her magic core for the first time. Her gifts evolved into an affinity towards mechanical restructuring with a auxiliary power of mechanical mind; simply put, she could talk with machines and resonates to each parts individually or as a whole so she never make mistakes in designing and assembling to date. This was eleven years ago."Linneia gestured Anya to come forward.


    A beautiful lady in her early twenties with silver gray hair and purple iris came forward to greet Roland. She was the definition of a northern beauty. She wore a standard high ranking military uniform with a midi skirt while her hair was tucked in a neat bun. She saluted Roland using the standard military salute.


    "Anya is the best flying engine core designer that we have. Currently, she is working on a dreadnought level engine for military purposes. Because her work was 80% done, a spaceship for intergalactic travel might be done before the interstellar gate. So, I believe we should give her a chance to modify her design to fit our criteria and proceed with manufacturing after reviewing."


    Roland nodded with the lengthy explanation.


    "Just being able to fly is not enough, how about speed? If the spaceship was too slow, we will still die before we could exit the solar system." Roland voiced his concern. He was hoping for a clean and simple teleportation device rather than a spaceship.


    "What I can see, the flying vehicles can only move within the atmosphere. You do know, space has different characteristics compared to the planet''s atmosphere." Roland spoke his mind.


    "That is why we have Zaleha over here." As Anya stepped back, a sweet girl with milk-coffee colored skin and big brown doe eyes came forward and curtsied Roland again. A slightly wavy hair was loosely tied beneath both of her ears into twin-tails enhancing her natural beauty. She wore a loose beige blouse with a long dark brown skirt.


    [Ah..a southern Asian beauty. Truly a feast to the eyes. So exotic.] Roland suddenly remembered a short vacation to the southeast Asian region he had taken during his university year before he transmigrated. It was too long ago but still fresh in his mind due to his unusually strong mental powers. Her ancestors must''ve originated from the southern desert clans and had migrated to Neverwinter during his previous conquest for petroleum.


    "Zaleha, or we usually called her Zac is a speed specialist. Any moving object she touched will be increased or decreased in speed at her will. She can even magnetize her gift on an item so that it could keep the needed speed at a constant rate at prolonged period of time."


    Roland was amused. This was just like the Flash, an OP Flash. "How fast can you go at maximum?" He directly asked the witch.


    With great composure, she answered confidently. "I don''t know, your Highness Ancestor King. I have never tried my hardest. The fastest I have tried was Mach 20."


    Roland nearly choked on the tea served to him at that moment. "Really? Can you change direction? How long can the magnetization lasts? Can you do it on a large vessel?" A series of questions spilled from his mouth.


    Zac gave the ancestor king an exasperated smile. "Not sure, but we will test it soon. My powers are a bit extreme. I can''t go all out since I could accidentally hurt everything in my path. What I''m sure of, Mach 20 was me doing things without even trying."


    Linneia added, "Additionally, her auxiliary gift was coupled with titan strength. The magnetized object was automatically strengthened. Even diamond, the strongest mineral present shattered into smithereens when it collided with a nail-sized moving magnetized standard glass ball. Moreover, the strengthening effect is permanent."


    Roland''s mouth was agape.


    [You''re pulling my legs! Are you kidding?! This was the definition of a hybrid between The Hulk and The Flash.]


    He could see the positive outcome for the spaceship construction research team. He understood what Linneia wanted to tell him.


    As long as they could build a functional space vessel with the appropriate speed, they could enhance each vessel using Zaleha''s power regardless of the materials they use. What they truly needed to do was to test the efficacy of the enhanced vessel in space as well as the limit of her power.


    His eyes sparkled as he can already see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 4 Spaceship Construction Research Group Part 2

    "Yesterday, your Highness Ancestor King asked for space-related and teleportation-related abilities from witches. Since these kinds of abilities were rare, only a small number of the sisters could be round up." Linneia explained.


    She then introduced the next witch, "This is Khora. She was responsible for the work on space storage as shown in the diagram. Khora''s ability could develop a small dimensional space in objects with the help of some formations for stabilization."


    "She works well together with Vayu, a witch capable of injecting life in a non-living environment, as she specialized in air blending. She can mimic the air composition perfectly. They recently jointly developed a spatial farm with twenty-seven other witches, a top project where we could raise food source in an independent artificial environment, though it was still in the field-testing phase. I believe the project will be successful soon after we checked for the agriculture yield''s quality." This was one of the current project Linneia was proud of.


    Both Khora and Vayu blushed demurely at Roland. Khora had a short curly blond hair which reminded him of Lightning''s vitality, but she was more reserved in front of him. Vayu had long silky black hair until her hips. They were holding each other''s hand behind their backs out of Roland''s view, though he saw it mentally.


    [They must be best of friends.] Roland gave them a kindly smile to assure them. "Excellent job. At this perilous time, your work is vital to the survival of our people."


    Roland finally understood why the witches'' representatives were not too worried from the combustion of their empire''s crops. They already had a solution for it. Only the low-level government officials and the citizens were in a panic.


    "Why don''t we disseminate this information to the people to gain their trust and reduce panic." Roland queried.


    Linnea explained, "We hold off the dissemination of information about this because previously the success rate for the project was very low. Khora''s sudden breakthrough recently made this project reached the goal after a lengthy research to stabilize the artificial domain."


    She showed Roland a graph on the 3D hologram, expressing the stability status of each experimental trials in numbers. The numbers were an all-time low from five years ago and exponentially increased into the third quartile region indicating the success rate since a month ago.


    Linneia continued to introduce three witches successively. "These three has teleportation-like ability but slightly different in principles from each other. I round them up for your Highness'' inspection."


    "This is Frieda. Her way of teleportation was quite special; she can move to the location of things or people she had a deep impression on. The person or item must have a deep connection to her and had once have direct contact with her for it to work. Then, she could reach it with a blink of an eye wherever it may be." She introduced a timid-looking little loli.


    The little loli looked barely fifteen. She had her wheat colored hair tied into a ponytail. Her light blue eyes peeked at Roland''s gray ones.


    Roland asked using telepathy, "Are you telepathic like me?"


    "Uh? Yes sir. I am." Frieda''s eyes widened; she clutched her frilly knee length light blue gown nervously.


    "So you locked on to people by relying on their brain waves?"


    "Yes sir. Uh...I think so. Everyone has a different color in their head. When I close my eyes I can see them wherever they are. Then suddenly I''m beside them." Frieda replied bashfully.


    "Amazing! How about non-living things?"


    "I tag them with my own special color. Then I can see them anywhere."


    "Good job!" Roland extended his hand and patted little Frieda''s head as she blushed happily.


    All the people in the study could only see Roland smiled at little Frieda and she smiled back bashfully. In the unbelievable gazes of the other witches, the timid little girl then took large steps and stopped beside the sitting Roland as he patted the little loli''s head while smiling.


    "Continue." The ancestor king gestured to Linneia.


    "General Raksha can teleport on short distances within her sight. She''s a combat witch who could burst with high speed until she disappeared and reappeared again at another location. The maximum distance of her teleportation has been tested to around 5 km in circumference with her at the centre." A calm lady with heroic features saluted Roland using the standard military gestures.


    "This humble one had seen your Majesty Ancestor King."


    Roland observed a vertical incision at the middle of her glabella.


    [Is that what I think it is?]


    Raksha noticed Roland gaze. Slowly, the incision opened vertically to reveal a third eye!


    "I''m from an ancient tribe with a special lineage. All of us had a third eye, either activated or not. Normally only the strongest warriors of the tribe will manage to open their third eye, men or women alike."


    Roland was intrigued with the explanation. [Takada-sensei! Your world is real!] Roland was so emotional and touched deep down inside. He was an avid fan of the Sanjian Unkara''s adventures(1) besides the mainstream Saiyan superheros, Gundam and the blue robot cat(2). It was a warm memory of him growing up surrounded by Japanese based manga and anime before transitioning to Wuxia and Xianxia novels when he was a bit older.


    Roland was interested with the tricyclop, "Do you have an assistant?"


    "Huh? Yes, of course I do." Raksha was a general after all. She was surrounded with a lot of adjutants.


    "What I mean is, do you have a special assistant? Which only belong to you. Most probably only one? That person should be..." He paused, "An immortal?"


    Everyone blanked for a minute.


    General Raksha''s face was full of mixed emotions. How''d he know?! It was the biggest secret of her tribe. One of Raksha''s adjutants was her personal guardian assistant. But nobody knows about that fact.


    Looking at Raksha''s ever-changing expression, Roland didn''t pursue the question but just gave a knowing smile. "Just kidding everyone haha!"


    [I knew it!] Roland exclaimed excitedly in his heart.


    Everyone was dumbfounded by the Ancestor King''s sudden joke. Only Raksha knew the king was covering her up. She was very grateful towards the king''s tactfulness.


    "The last one is Melati. She could teleport people and things around within her sight but not herself."


    The girl by the name Melati smiled to Roland and curtsied again. "Your Majesty Ancestor King!" She had cherry red lips and dimples when she smiled. Her dark brown hair was pulled into a low bun twist with tendrils of loose hair framing her lovely oval face.


    "How about the last three at the back?" Roland asked.


    "They are support witches with large magic capacity who mainly work on powering our biocomputer for performing complicated calculations at high speed. Without them, the biocomputer could not be activated." Linneia gestured the last three to come forward.


    "This is Meifang, Luojien, and Yingyue. They are geniuses from the Eastern region across the Vortex Sea."


    Roland was confused. These girls were like normal mortals. Moreover, their names...aren''t they Chinese names? They even looked the part with their main characteristics of white jade-like skin, pheonix-like pitch black eyes and black hair. Classic beauties.


    [Did some Chinese transmigrators came over this world without him knowing and start a clan or something?]


    Roland was sure he never saw a Chinese descent-like features on anyone he knew previously. This world was predominated with Western-like features all over.


    Linneia saw her ancestor pondering about something, hence she thought he might be thinking why these three witches doesn''t seemed like a witch at all. "Your Majesty Ancestor King, let''s move out to the castle backyard. Then you will understand what I mean."


    Linneia picked up the floating circular device and placed it back behind her neck. It turned out, there was a small circular port at the back of all the necks of the witches Roland met today.


    Seeing Roland looking at her action, Linneia explained, "Since thirty years ago, our nation had develop a small device which can be up-link to the main empire''s server. All personnel of the empire must install this device on their cerebral network from the back of their neck." She showed the back of her neck to Roland. It was a tiny metallic ball with a metallic ring as the port. Besides that, nothing else was seen.


    "Even some well-off citizens voluntarily install the cerebral connector device to their newborn babies. Since then, all our documents became paperless. Governmental affairs became much faster with lesser bureaucracy. It was very convenient." She smiled as she walked side by side with Roland to the backyard of the castle.


    The witches followed them orderly while they whispered with each other silently. They were eagerly anticipating what will be their king command and how they can contribute.


    Author''s note:


    (1) Sanjiyan Unkara = Also known as 3x3 Eyes. One of the really well written manga by Yuzo Takada. More info can be seen here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3%C3%973_Eyes


    (2) Blue robot cat = The very popular ''Doraemon'' by Fujio Fujiko

 5 Biocomputer Part 1

    It was 6.00 am in the morning.


    The sound of alarm blaring loudly into Meifang ears jolted her awake.


    "Goodness! Cut it off already!" She threw her pillow to the owner of the alarm. The culprit was still snoring soundly with froth leaking from the corner of her mouth.


    "Just..a lil bit..a lil bit more..bird beak mushroom.." She heard the culprit murmured sleepily.


    "Yue-er(1), if you don''t stop it from ringing, I will pour water over your head!" Meifang''s head was still beeping following the rhythm of the alarm clock.


    She knew she shouldn''t be angry at Yingyue.


    The three of them went to bed at 4.00 am this morning. There was so much to do.


    After a moment of internal struggle, the girl finally wore her skeletal glove and pressed on something in mid-air in front of her wearily. Then she slumped back to sleep.


    Watching Yingyue struggled with that little bit of effort made Meifang sighed. She glanced at another corner; Luojien didn''t even twitch in her sleep. She looked so tired.


    She needed to show a good example as the eldest in the Wang clan. Her grandpa reminded her again and again not to bring shame to the family name.


    Both Luojien and Yingyue were not her real sisters; they were more like cousins. Luojien was the outgoing daughter of her father''s cousin, while the naughty Yingyue was the daughter of a branch family. Hence it was up to the calm Meifang to lead the three of them in the empire''s royal capital.


    They had been scouted by an elder witch dispatched from the Witch Union after an event happening during the last year''s clan gathering in Searing Flame Island. The three of them touched each other coincidentally in a four-legged race match and accidentally awakened their combined magic powers. Their magic powers were very special, even amongst witches.


    Reminiscing her past in the clan, Meifang felt a sense of longing. She never knew growing up was tough. Especially when one got instant irresponsible ''sisters'' to take care of.


    Both girls finished off their pocket money of the year on the first day in Neverwinter. A shiver run through her body when she remembered their naive (and idiotic) smiling faces. At that time, she was in a real dilemma to disown them or to save them.


    She rolled off her comfortable bed, wishing she could marry it and stay with it forever in bitterness. Nobody knew that Meifang was actually a sleepyhead. She just loved to sleep. It''s her favorite pastime.


    However, seeing the uselessness of these two cheeky little girls, she needed to step up.If not, everyone will just lie in bed all day long. She knew, especially she and her sisters didn''t have such luxury. They were just newcomers compared to the other witches, still susceptible to criticism and scrutinizing. She could not loose her job here.


    A call came through when she was brushing her teeth. She verbally accepted the notification appearing in her vision through the cerebral connector.


    Yesterday, she muted all connections to her mobile phone using her cerebral connector to focus on her work. They were in the final moments of an important juncture. No distractions allowed. She even forced her two sisters to do the same. It then automatically turned back to daily mode after being refreshed when she woke up today. Their connectors were slightly advanced then others; not many people were willing to upgrade their cerebral connector to this level since the level of intrusion was significantly higher.


    "Miss Fang, Princess Linneia tried to contact you since yesterday but you were busy. Please call her back. It seemed important."


    "Alright. Thank you, Judy." Her assistant, Judy was much more disciplined then her sisters.


    Using her cerebral connector, she called the empire''s princess nervously.


    [Why is the big shot calling me repeatedly yesterday? Please don''t let me hear that the girls ate something and ran again. I will really spank their butt to kingdom come if they shamed the clan again!]


    Meifang felt suspicious especially towards that glutton''s spoken dream of bird-beak mushroom just now.


    "Finally connected! Morning, Sister Fang!" A melodious voice entered her ears.


    With mouth full of bubbles, Meifang spoke apologetically, "Morning Princess. I''m so sorry I couldn''t contact you sooner. Is there a problem?"


    "I told you to call me Sister Linneia right? We have an ad-hoc meeting at 9.00 am today."


    Meifang let off a relieved sigh. Bubbles floated out of her mouth. "Can we skip? We''re at a critical juncture right now with the field testing of the independent space." Meifang started rinsing her mouth and re-brush again.


    "No, you can''t. The Ancestor King is taking over the projects. It''s him who wanted the meeting you know."


    "Whatttt!!!" She was so shocked until she swallowed all the bubbles and choked.


    "Cough! Cough!"


    "Are you alright?!" Linneia''s slightly alarmed voice sounded.


    After a minute of coughing, she rinsed her mouth and continued, "Fine, fine. We will be there."


    She glanced at the time at the left corner of her vision.


    "Damn! It''s already 8.00 am!" She only got one hour drag their sorry ass to get ready! They even needed twenty minutes to reach the castle!


    She dragged a floating shower head and signaled her cerebral connector to switch it on. "Wake up Jien-er, Yue-er!!! Wake up now or your favorite bed will be soaking wet!"


    "Wahhhh!! Stop it Sis Fang!" Two soaking wet girls pleaded unhappily. Meifang persisted with the artificial rain until both of them ran into the shower to take a bath.


    ...


    Maifang was really nervous when she faced the famed Immortal King when their turn to be introduced came. He looked young and refined like a gentleman. The notable gray hair, the symbol of a Graycastle royalty, was flowing to his shoulder carelessly.


    [Wasn''t he at least a thousand years old? Who told me he looks like a wizened grandpa?]


    While she was staring at the ancestor king timidly, the ancestor king was scrutinizing them back while pondering about something. Although the sovereign looked pleasing to the eyes, she could not view him as such. He was the only human able to break the limit and lived so long. In her eyes, he was not a human anymore; very intimidating and monstrous.


    Luojien and Yingyue were nervous too. She was glad they didn''t show their cheekiness in front of the legendary immortal king. If things went south, she won''t know how to help them.


    When they reached the backyard, Princess Linneia encouraged them to walk to the center.


    As usual, Meifang initiated the formation by linking her hands with the two jittery girls, forming a triangle. Once all three of them held hands, all their troubles went away; peace and calmness overtook everything else. Meifang reveled on this sensation every single time. They felt the familiar out-of-body sensation where they could feel the universe with all the cells of their being. Simultaneously, they closed their eyes.


    Author''s note:


    (1)Yue-er/Jien-er = "-er" functions similar to ''-chan''. Usually used to address a junior or younger sibling intimately. The real meaning was "little". You could find this term almost anywhere in wuxia/xianxia novels.

 6 Biocomputer Part 2

    "What was their family name? Are they related?" Roland was still contemplating about the girls'' origin.


    "They came from the Wang Clan of the Searing Flame Island. They''re distant cousins." Linneia explained.


    They were even surnamed Wang, a very common surname in China, his original hometown from Earth.


    It was the first for Roland to see Chinese descendants appearing in front of his eyes. He felt a sense of kinship with them.


    Our dear king had totally forgotten that he did not even look Chinese anymore.


    He pondered for a while and asked Linneia for clarification, "I thought Searing Flame Island was deserted?"


    She smiled professionally and explained, "True, but that was long ago. Around 300 years back, a pioneer had set foot on the volcanic island. With the help of a magma-based witch and a good sum of gold royals, he revamped the island into a great industrial town. That person was the ancestor of these ladies." She gestured to them.


    [When everything is done, I must pay a visit to their ancestral home.] He made a mental note.


    He might even find traces of a fellow Chinese-descent transmigrator over there.


    Roland continued observing their action. He still could not sense any energy which was the characteristic of a magic core from a witch.


    A minute ticked by, then he could feel all the mental energies from the observing witches, including himself, converged at the trios'' location.


    Tendrils of energy in the form of mental powers flowed from unknown places, joined the main flow absorbed from the people gathering at the castle backyard. The mental powers funneled through the center of the triangle from the top of the triangle formation as they swirled in between the girls before merging with their heads simultaneously.


    All three girls opened their eyes abruptly together; no irises were visible, only the scleras. Their bodies produced a ghostly glow and they started to float slightly, around two inches from the ground.


    "Now they''re ready to be questioned, your Highness." Linneia walked forward and explained to Roland.


    Roland was in awe; from his eyes, he could see millions of minute mental energy streams as thin as a thread converged into a thick pillar of light funneled into the trio''s ''triangle'' formation made by linking hands with each other. The amount of magic energy soared to an unprecedented level. It was even stronger than Anna.


    "I see. They act as a mental energy conduit; absorbing energy from the people and convert them into answers. The answers might come from the accumulation of knowledge from everyone involved. How fascinating."


    It reminded Roland of the main carrier headed by Lady Eleanor previously where all the majority of Taquila witches merged together in it. Regretfully, the main carrier had died in the cross-fire from the previous battle. It was a tragic lost, which affected Roland and the other surviving Taquila witches until today. The presence of the second biocomputer-like powers from the three witches truly made Roland feel nostalgic and touched.


    [I bet Pasha will love to know about this. She would be so touched.]


    At first, Roland asked simple questions, such as "How many eggs are left when the farmer sold a dozen, ate three, being gifted with five, when he had twenty chickens, assuming each chicken produce two eggs, while three of them get sick today and didn''t produce any eggs", "How many hours was the past winter", and "What was today''s most notable success". The trance-like suspended girls could answer the questions without a pause while synchronizing their voices together.


    Their answers were comprehensive, which greatly differed from the ''Yes'' and ''No'' function of the previous Taquila main carrier. This made Roland very happy.


    He then started asking complicated mathematical questions such as varying formulas, reconstruction of theorems and characteristics of the most recently mined magic stone. They managed to answer all perfectly, albeit with a two to three-minute lag.


    All of a sudden, Roland was caught in an epiphany; how about verifying the theories pertaining to space warping and the Einstein''s field equation for artificially making an Einstein-Rosen bridge? Although no verification was found as the information were regarded as unfounded theories in his time, maybe these ladies could find the solution? It will be beneficial for making a spaceship which could travel at lightspeed and a teleportation gate.


    Roland started asking complicated questions regarding hyper-fast travel, verification of the Alcubierre warp drive mathematical formulation and materials with negative density energy in successions. Even though this information was heavily used in making sci-fi movies, there was a grain of truth in each of them. Roland was a hardcore enough enthusiast until he took note of all the science facts just for fun.


    The three girls kept silent for a long time after each question. Roland and the rest of the witches waited one hour for each question because Linneia told him that after one hour they didn''t answer a question, it meant they couldn''t come up with the appropriate answer for it.


    After the third question being forwarded, the lag was obvious but lesser. After 20 minute, the girls simultaneously spoke, "The negative density energy particle do not exist in this plane as is to date but could be artificially constructed by combining the power of Miss Vayu, Miss Zaleha, Miss Rosseta, Miss Desaree and Miss Linneia with the modified Sigil of Weightlessness used in construction." They proceeded to explain the method of modification needed for the sigil to be turned into a new material with negative density attribute.


    Roland was in awed with the answer. [I''m obsolete already!]


    He pretended to be composed and nodded like a wise sage.


    Posturing for the sake of image is also a must!


    Roland has been regarded as the greatest genius monarch with omniscient knowledge since time immemorial and he must act the part to instill confidence in his subjects.


    [Alas, what everyone truly needed is some background knowledge before they can themselves extrapolate from it.] He thought to himself while preparing himself to teach these lovely girls infos only sci-fi hardcore fans would care.


    He felt somewhat guilty.


    [Maybe by educating everyone with my random sci-fi knowledge, we could strike luck and manage to get someone to get a spark of inspiration and convert the theory into reality? We could never know unless we tried.] Roland tried hard to convince himself.


    [What everyone truly lack was exposure to this kind of information and enough imagination.] The longer he thought about it, the better it sounded in his head.


    Roland broke off from his reverie and praised the girls. They truly deserved it. "Good job Meifang, Luojien, Yingyue."


    The three girls had ''switched off'' from their computer-mode and stood at the side with the other witches. They were very nervous about what just happened. The questions posed by the ancestor king were unheard of and they were intrigued themselves that they could answer one of them.


    He clapped lightly to get all the witches'' attention, "Everyone, I have decided to give a specialized lecture for you all after this evening tea session."


    Everyone was very excited!


    To be able to attend the Immortal King''s personal lecture was a precious experience only a few could get. They''ve read in the history books that every time the immortal king lectured using his profound knowledge, someone among the witches'' community will experience an enlightenment and evolved her magic core to another level.


    They started to chatter excitedly among themselves. Who will be the lucky one among them??


    Roland didn''t know his casual words has brewed up a storm!

 7 Witch Intelligence Agency

    "Move forward to space to investigate the real cause of the increased speed of our sun''s gradual death."


    The immortal king''s words kept on reverberating in my mind as I consolidated my artificial body under the illumination of LED light in the main virtual conference hall of the Border 3 Sanctuary.


    This place was previously named as Border City 3 by His Highness Roland but we manage to change it over time. Thankfully.


    I really don''t understand why there should be ''three'' when there''s no ''two''.


    His Highness'' lack of naming sense faced a great deal of opposition from the sisters until he finally capitulated with resignation.


    To date, Border 3 Sanctuary had developed into a vast modernized subterranean city exclusively for the sisters working under the Witch Intelligence Agency led by myself. The earliest members were our own Taquila witches liberated from the God Punishment Army''s husks.


    I reminisced the past nostalgically; His Highness was the one who ambitiously developed the organization. However, he insisted that I should run the agency independently to observe our neighbors of different species from different continents, whether they are hostile or not. As what he mentions, "Knowledge is power".


    Now I''ve understood his intentions. With me at the helm, the sisters are more at ease and can easily work things out efficiently. He is very farsighted as usual.


    How should I say this?


    As a witch, I have always able to sense a crisis when it was coming. I think it is my own sixth sense working. This inherent ability had saved me many times.


    This time, after listening to His Majesty''s words, the throbbing was intense.


    From that, I know it will be different. Not sure it is in a good way or a bad way.


    What can I do if the enemy was so strong until we can''t beat them?


    This time, could His Majesty find a solution with his knowledgeable thinking?


    For the first time in so many years, I don''t feel confident.


    ...


    "How is it? What did His Majesty say?" A lady in royal blue dress urged. Her hair was long and tied to the back of her head into a ponytail.


    Any signs of Pasha''s inner turmoil dissipated without a trance from her face. She looked serene as usual again. Uncertainty in a leader will affect the people around greatly.


    "Celine, can you please not be so eager? It is very unbecoming of you." Pasha was helpless with her colleague''s sprightly attitude. It demeaned their status as the ancestor king''s Witch Intelligence Agency''s Elder Witches.


    Celine blinked her eyes a few times. She snorted lightly and jumped towards Pasha. Pasha did not evade her lest she might really let herself fall and scraped herself.


    She knew the frivolous attitude of her colleague. She became so cheerful after they won the Battle of Divine Will, saying now that she was free, she could research whatever she wanted.


    Pasha suspected that she was having these episodes due to extreme grief from the loss of the main carrier. She was the most attached to it. She was fragile and seemed like she got a screw loose somewhere.


    Pasha heaved a heavy sigh and let the senior witch did whatever she liked.


    Celine laughed while hugging Pasha mischievously. She pulled Pasha to one of the two empty seats at the forefront of a big round table in the middle of the hall.


    Alethea was already seated and waiting for her with a grim expression.


    All three of them sat side by side on one small part of the conference table while the rest of the table was devoid of chairs. The center of the table was hollow. In the middle, a small main "VIRCOF" was fixed on a three feet high steel pillar.


    "VIRCOF" was a revolutionized invention that merged a few sigils together. The functions of bridging long distance communication, motion capturing, and 3D-like representation made it possible for them to be connected with all the agents at any time, as long as the invention was charged with enough power.


    Obviously, all these inventions were made possible by Celine but the weird naming came from His Highness as usual. He called it in short for virtual conference, whatever that means.


    Pasha took a short while to organize her thoughts.


    She began narrating the tasks given by the immortal king and his conjectures. Both Celine and Alethea''s expression became more serious by the minute. They too, were already aware of the disturbance that happened in the empire. Roland''s conjectures made them felt uncomfortable and threatened.


    "We must complete this task as soon as possible!" Alethea proclaimed. "We''re not doing this for His Majesty, but it concerned the preservation of the witches."


    "Then, let''s mobilize all of our agents from each continent. This is the time to use our widespread intelligence." Celine suggested.


    Seeing both of her colleagues'' agreement, Pasha took out a thumbdrive-like device and pressed the glowing red button at the side. A 3D diagram of the planet appeared at the middle of the empty space at the center of the round table.


    At each of the planet''s continent, three to five red dots appeared on the virtual 3D globe at differing locations.


    The three senior witches waited silently in the large conference hall.


    They were waiting.


    ...


    Leila was a merchant.


    She had been trained into a merchant from the day she took her first step as a toddler. She became a refugee when she lost her parents ten years back from a big fire. Her mentor took her in. She was her parents'' good friend.


    Her mentor was the one who taught her about the witch nation in Neverwinter, a glorious city for humans in the east. Each day, she was fed with tidbits, trivia, folklore, believes, and history of that empire.


    The one that intrigued her the most was the tale of a witty founder of the empire; a Roland Wimbledon.


    He was portrayed as a deified human for his long life and extremely intelligent mind. He was even dubbed as the only warlock who had received the Goddess smile upon him. If not, how can he be this awesome.


    Leila even heard that this founder used some kind of method to extend the life of his spouse. He even managed to make his spouse to be able to bear a child! A witch bearing a child! It was unprecedented! How miraculous! The tale must be heavily exaggerated!


    Nonetheless, in her heart, Neverwinter had become the place of her dreams; she felt connected to it. One day she will surely go there. She hated this forsaken land. She didn''t feel belong here, only a heartbroken sadness.


    She could see how proud her beautiful mentor was when she was talking about her homeland. She was a human witch, travelling the globe with a merchant''s identity.


    That''s the respectful way of saying it. The truth was, she was more like an arm''s dealer and a smuggler.


    Contradicting her beautiful delicate face, she had a black belly, a trashy mouth, a stupidly sensitive nose (she spanked my butt for tasting the pudding she hoard in the chiller, damn it, I just gave it a lick on the surface), and a pension for starting trouble.


    Shhh! Not too loud! That old witch would''ve caught her from just thinking about all this.


    Leila suspected that her power must be clairvoyance.


    Leila kicked the brittle concrete away after she daydreamed for a short while outside of their base.


    She hated the air outside; it was filled with the smell of smoke, gunpowder and rust from a prolonged civil war.


    She placed her splayed palm on an unassuming overturned flowerpot. A scanning light in the form of a horizontal soft light appeared and flashed past.


    "Password?" A soft robotic voice was heard.


    "Aunty Helen is a troll." She shrugged and repeated the password nonchalantly.


    The rundown half collapsed door opened with a click. She came face to face with Helen who was coincidentally standing at the back of the door with a fake smile plastering her face.


    "Ah! Aunty! My beautiful, lustrous, divine Aunty Helen, what can my humble self do for you?" Leila didn''t realize her trashy mouth was just the same as her guardian. After all, she learned from the best.


    Right now, she can only bootlick the witch until she forgot what Leila said just now. She had been too impulsive yesterday; she was so angry with Aunt Helen until she changed the password to vent.


    Aunt Helen flicked her fingers on Leila''s forehead in between her bull-like two horns.


    "Idiot. You think I will forget just like that?"


    Leila grinned ingratiatingly. "People said, magnanimous people don''t sweat the small stuff." She tried to grovel herself on Aunt Helen by using a piece of rotten cloth she found on the floor and dusted her Aunt Helen''s body.


    Instead of cleaning it, she added more dust to it, while making the witch''s face twitched.


    Suddenly Leila saw a small red light blinking from within Helen''s side pocket.


    Realizing Leila''s attention was pulled towards her side pocket, Helen turned her head to look at the same direction. A surprised expression fleeted her lovely face but soon disappeared without a trace.


    "Let''s go in. It''s getting late."


    Huh? I thought she going to beat my butt again before giving me a random chore as a punishment.


    "Err...okay." Leila followed Helen into the base timidly.


    "Make sure you return to your room immediately and stayed there until tomorrow. Contemplate what you did wrong and how to remedy it." Helen ordered her charge imposingly.


    Leila heaved a relieved sigh and followed Helen timidly, two paces behind her. In normal conditions, she would''ve been punished to do a 24 hours horse stance (who did that in this day and age?), or to mine a kilogram of gold, or to steal a piece of candy from a chief''s grandson, or become a bar maid for two months, just for a small mistake if she wanted to return back to the base.


    Some random chores she was tasked to do take months to complete, while some others nearly costed her pitiful little life. Her guardian was erratic in nature, and the random punishments made her insane!


    The nearly collapsed front door was closed tightly. A lot of dirt and old wares cluttered across the walkway, masking the actual underground tunnel five meters away.


    Helen opened the camouflaged trapdoor and jumped into a square compartment the size of a closet with Leila.


    After the trapdoor automatically closed, Helen took out a thumb-sized device and used her magic power to energize it. It gently glowed in the dark.


    Leila felt the familiar fast moving downward motion as they descended at a fast pace into their underground base.


    It stopped halfway to let Leila entered a tunnel before it plunged down into the darkness. Leila walked briskly into her own room and closed the door obediently.


    "Aunt Helen is an angel today. I wonder why???" She whispered happily.

 8 Gathering Intelligence

    Helen finally reached the deepest level of the underground base. It was connected to a medium grade raw magic stone lode she secretly mined and shipped to her homeland. In this day and age, "god punishment stone" was a term that nobody knows anymore.


    All raw magic stone will be directly sent to Border 3 Sanctuary for processing and was heavily consumed by their top researcher, Elder Witch Celine, to mass produce magic-based high-tech gadgets. These gadgets will be allocated to all agents across the globe in the form of upgrades.


    Helen entered a small underground room equipped with the latest upgraded VIRCOF mounted on the wall. She let her magic energy flowed into the device and stood straight.


    A blue light scanned her from bottom to top and she immediately wore a thick circular crown-like metallic gadget. The eyepieces attached to the metallic gadget were translucent blue in color; they covered both of her eyes.


    Through the special blue lenses made from refined magic stones, she saw the virtual conference room. To her left and her right, all her comrades had gathered together, filling up the table to full.


    Helen saluted to the three senior witches appearing on the front-most part of the table. "Glory to Neverwinter! Agent 1677 reporting!"


    ...


    Celine smiled to the last holographic-like witch appearing at the edge of the conference table.


    "Helen, how was the training of the potential recruit''s progress? It is nearly ten years. Is she ready?"


    Helen bowed respectfully, "Her progress are very good Madam Celine . As a hybrid between a human and an Oni, Leila is a model example of both species. Her intelligence was a bit subpar, but I can work on it. She did well in all her assignments.Her loyalty level towards Neverwinter Empire is very high. She just aced her monthly assessment using the Orb of Truth."


    Celine nodded with satisfaction, "Good job Helena. Gift her the second generation VIRCOF. Let your disciple sit in starting from our next meeting. She will be our newest recruit."


    "However, Madam Celine, I think she still needed a bit of time for her mind conditioning." Helen tried to explain worriedly while she was reminded by the latest changed password. Her charge was a tad bit childish on that side. Besides that, she was very exemplary.


    "We don''t have time anymore. We need all the agents at hand." Celine smiled reassuringly towards the senior witch. Helen nodded in acknowledgement and make a mental note to reprimand Leila before promoting her.


    "Sisters, as all of you know, the fire disasters that befalls Neverwinter were not location-exclusive. Some of you have reported the severity of the disasters in other regions. From the information that we gather so far, the disasters are at a global scale." Pasha explained to all the witch agents seriously.


    "We would like to know the current status of countries within your jurisdiction and how these disasters affected the political conditions as a whole." Alethea spoke next. Being used to seeing Roland tapping the desk to get the attention of the masses, she did it subconsciously too.


    One by one, the agents started to talk about the region under their charge. Some had no known disaster, while others were utterly destroyed. The severely affected regions were in sliding towards anarchy. Many small tribes from lesser known local species had been decimated due to varying circumstances.


    The three Elder Witches expression getting grimmer by the second.


    Three noteworthy events which got their attention were the war between the Elves, the movement of the warring Orcs and the internal strife between the Onis due to their massive scales and how the event affected the surroundings.


    Agent Walsh who infiltrated the Dark Elves community showed a few visuals of gory confrontations between the Dark Elves and the High Elves as the war getting more intense. She reported that the war was beginning to tilt towards the Dark Elves side as more forest were burnt down from the rampant naturally-occurring forest fire. This had limited the nature-based magic reserve of the High Elves. More than half of the forests resided by the Elves were in ruins as to date.


    On the second event, Agent Bellya who posed as a travelling bard heard rumors that the orcs were moving towards the north where the fire disasters were significantly lesser from the low temperature. Massive migration by the millions made these orcs behaved like locusts; they ravaged all the livestock and lands from anything edible regardless whether the owners were friends or foe. In the situation where arable lands were getting fewer, the plundering of food resources were akin to killing the whole tribe. They won''t be able to survive.


    Lastly, Agent Helen who infiltrated the Oni''s region as a neutral trader cum arms dealer reported that the flaring of civil war in that region due to the death of the previous leader. Three opposing faction of oni''s were fighting each other to a standstill while incurring massive destruction and lives. There were indications of instigation from neighboring forces supporting the different groups of Onis.


    After the last senior witch, Helen reported her investigation, the three elder witches dismissed them.


    All witch agents saluted and bowed respectfully. They dissipated from the elder witches'' view and turned into blue light particles.


    ...


    "What do you think?" asked Pasha to the other two elder witches.


    "We need to do something." Alethea said.


    Celine sighed, "If the world keeps on progressing in this way, I believe its inhabitants will prematurely die before the end of the world. Maybe that will be better? At least they won''t feel the pain of being cooked alive?" she started to giggle.


    Both Pasha and Alethea were speechless with Celine''s grim comments. They pretended not to hear anything and continued with the discussion.


    "Let me handle the Orcs. Although Graycastle Empire was not on their route, after they depleted the resources at the north, they might cross the Impassable Mountain ranges to enter our lands." Alethea spoke confidently.


    "Be gentle. Don''t immediately attack as what you did like the last 10 years when we met the previous Goblin Chief. Try to find ways to communicate to explain the current conditions to the Orc Elder Chieftain." Pasha requested gently. She knew what kind of person Alethea was. She was loyal and passionate in preserving the heritage of the witches, while being harsh to others and herself.


    Alethea showed a not-so-happy expression, but it soon disappeared without being detected by Pasha.


    "Let me investigate the Elves'' situation. I''ve been very interested in the underground kingdom of the Dark Elves for a while now. Sister Walsh had reported on more than one occasion that she observed the transport of raw magic stones from the area. It seemed the magic stones were sent to the Demons'' colony." Celine grinned.


    "How about the movements of the Demons? Why didn''t I hear any notable news about them?"


    "It''s because they have been very quiet all this while." Celine replied. "However, the movements of raw magic stone from the Dark Elves underground kingdom towards the Demon''s lair was active just recently."


    "Then, go ahead Celine and take extra precaution." Pasha acquiesced.


    "Then I will take on the remaining investigation at the Oni''s empire. They were neutral towards Graycastle empire, but I have read reports on them using human slaves. Sister Helen work managed to salvage some of them back towards Graycastle. It''s time to get acquainted with them." Pasha added.


    "No matter what happens, we must protect the empire and our brethren. Others were secondary." Alethea added.


    "Let''s converged here after the investigations were done. Everyone has at a maximum 48 hours. Then we will meet up with His Highness to report the current conditions." Pasha calmly stated her order. She was worried the other Elder Witches will do more than they should if they took too long a time.


    All three looked at each other deeply as they know what is in each other mind.


    "Glory to Neverwinter." All three of the Elder Witches saluted each other by placing their palm on their chests. They were now known as Neverwinter Witches, the final legacy left by the forgotten Taquila.


    They dissipated into mists.


    In their mind, they were to achieve their own goals regardless of the methods.


    Failure is not an option.

 9 An Interlude

    Helen took off the VIRCOF from her head while silently contemplating the aftermath of the meeting.


    The solemn expression from the three elder witches triggered an alarm within her. She believed if not one, all three of the ancient witches will surely joined the investigation soon.


    Helen touched the side of the smooth white-washed wall and let her magic flowed in.


    A small drawer popped out. Helen retrieved the item carefully.


    It''s time for little Leila to grow up.


    ...


    The door was harshly opened with a loud bang.


    Leila, who was nearly asleep woke up like a frightened rabbit.


    Her aunty Helen had resumed her ogrishly expression. She was aiming for Leila''s left ear. "You cheeky little girl! I remembered what you did to the password! I''m a vengeful person! So, what can you do about it?!"


    "Ow..ow..ow..ouch! I''m so sorry!I''m so sorry! I won''t do again." Leila opened her eyes as wide as possible and exposed it a little to the air. In this way, it will be misted faster, garnering a sorrowful expression. She puckered her cute pink mouth and blinked until tears slowly rolled down from the corner of her eyes.


    Seeing how Leila expertly conjured a ''crocodile tears'' scene, Helen amusingly sigh.


    "You know, you need to control your emotions a bit more. It''s a no-no to show your feelings to anyone. Be steadfast and more collected. You''re a grownup already. Barely, I guess." Helen dotingly patted her head.


    She didn''t know when, the girl had usurped her way into Helen''s heart a long time ago. She treated her like a close family member. A daughter perhaps. Since she couldn''t have one herself.


    "I have a gift for you." She placed a gadget on Leila''s palm. The gadget was white in color. It was an ear piece melded with a single crystal blue eye piece.


    Leila brought the gadget to her face to observe bewilderingly. She still didn''t know the function of the gadget given to her. Helen took it and helped Leila fixed the second generation VIRCOF on her left ear and initiate the owner recognition protocol.


    "Congratulations! You''re now a real Neverwinter Witch. Please make me proud."


    Leila jumped with joy and hugged Helen wholeheartedly.


    This time her tears were real.


    ...


    Seeing the witches chatting animatedly made Roland felt a bit uncomfortable. He tried to switch the subject and inquired about the second research group to Linneia.


    "How about the Interstellar Gate Research Group you mention before? How far ahead had your team research on it?" Roland asked curiously.


    Linneia cleared her throat and blushed. "Currently, nil. The concept was new as I just thought about it last night after listening to your Highness'' briefing.


    Roland finally understood why Linneia stressed on the building of spaceships more.


    He chuckled lightly and added, "It''s your boon. About a thousand years after the Battle of Divine Will, I found an interesting object in an intact ruin from one of the disappeared civilization who contended in the earliest Battle of Divine Will.


    It is at the level of an ancient artifact. I think it will definitely contribute to the highest degree in the progress of the Interstellar Gate construction."


    All the witches present were surprised with Roland''s explanation. They quietened down and started to listen in on Roland''s and Linneia''s conversation since they had never heard of this.


    Roland took a few hundred years to thoroughly explore the entire region of the planet to find the remnants of the missing first civilization after the first Battle of Divine Will. It was his passion after he abdicated the throne to pass it on to his grown-up daughter and her husband to govern. Nobody knew what he was adamantly looking for, except for his beloved wife, Anna.


    He got his own conjecture and wanted to confirm it.


    He didn''t gave up and continued searching for years until he finally found a clue regarding what he was looking for.But reality was cruel to him as he was forced to put a halt on researching it due to certain circumstances.


    With all the resources he could dispensed in his hand, he still could not solve the mystery of the unknown civilization at that time. Roland had issued a gag-order on this unknown technology as he did not have the expertise to work on it at that moment after spending so much time looking for it.


    Just now, while perusing on the list in the Witch Union file, he found several candidates who could potentially assisted in solving the issues pertaining the civilization''s technology.


    It turned out, the three biocomputer girls had the same conclusion as him. With the addition of the witches called Rossetta and Desaree, they can immediately start off with the Interstellar Gate Project.


    "Where was it located, your Highness?" Linneia made an incredulous look. She could not believe they could be this lucky.


    Roland smiled saintly. "I will bring the people involved to the location of the ancient artifact directly tomorrow."


    "Alright!" Linneia acquiesced reluctantly. She was quite unhappy with the lack of information given by her ancestor but tried her hardest not to show it.


    Roland could read her thoughts like an open book. He laughed silently and continue to speak to everyone, "All of you will be separated into three groups, namely the Spaceship Construction Research Group, The Interstellar Gate Research Group and the Negative Density Energy Particle Research Group."


    "The Negative Density Energy Particle Research Group must take precedent, as it will be the core to be used by both groups later. So, focus on this first.


    After the lecture, you will understand the importance of a material which could generate the negative energy towards your respective goals."


    "Linneia, Vayu, Zaleha, Rossetta and Desaree must start researching on the negative density energy particle first. Linneia, please contact both Rossetta and Desaree. Make sure they''re present during the lecture this evening."


    "Anya can continue with the core design manipulation. You''ll oversee the Spaceship Construction Team. Bring along Khora," he paused, "And Vayu, when she finished her first task. Before that, when you need her, liaised with her using the cerebral connector''s interface. Later, when she was done, you can absorb her into your research team permanently."


    "Affirmative, Your Highness." Anya gave a military salute.


    Roland continued, "The vessel must be stable enough to support the presence of storage space. Khora and Vayu, please start human trial soon. The storage space must be able to support humans, husbandry animals and poultry."


    "Yes, Your Majesty." Khora and Vayu answered simultaneously while bowing lightly.


    "Melati, Frieda and Raksha can join the Interstellar Gate Research Group." Roland added.


    The three unlikely ladies (and girl) looked at each other, and answered, "As you wish, Your Highness." Melati and Frieda curtsied gently while the valiant General Raksha saluted him military-styled.


    The three sisters fidgeted at the side. Are we not required? They thought in a panic. Will we be axed out from the group of researchers?


    "Meifang, Luojien and Yingyue needed to work in tandem will all groups. With all of you around, their work will significantly progress faster and more efficient." Roland spoke after a momentary pause.


    Both Luojien''s and Yingyue''s mouth twitched as they blinked their eyes.


    Who said not required just now?! It''s triple the amount! We should ask for a raise!


    Meifang quickly pinched both of her sisters to stop them from reacting unnecessarily.


    The crowd started to chatter after the tasks had been disseminated among them. Roland exited the meeting with Linneia in tow.


    Since she automatically subjected herself as Roland''s assistant, Roland won''t be polite and instructed her endlessly to his heart''s content in amusement.


    ...


    Linneia was very unhappy internally.


    Her father, King Azul, was the one who arranged for her to be the attendant for their ancestors, Immortal King Roland and Immortal Queen Anna. It was the most fitting, as she was after all, their most accomplished descendant.


    Truthfully, this was the first time she came in contact with her ancestor, the Immortal King.


    Previously, she had felt great reverence towards her great grandpa. However, reality showed that this person wasn''t as great as he should be.


    True, he was similar to the large portrait in the main hall. But why didn''t he have that kingly aura in him?


    He was more down to earth, calm and collected; more like a scholar rather than an emperor.


    Seriously, why did he seem so mediocre?


    It''s like when you have such a high expectation on something, and suddenly it didn''t lived up to your standard, it would be a total turn off.


    That''s what she felt currently.


    Linneia was discontented with how the ancestor passed her job to his wife. He even took over her research team and scrambled it up!


    Moreover, his wife is so beautiful! Why is he lecherously looking at the three young girls until his eyes nearly come off once she was gone? Did he have a fetish for young innocent-looking girls?


    When she wanted to know more about the ruins, this ancestor of hers kept on deflecting and not wanting to tell her a single bit!


    So stingy!


    Hmph! Wait and see, I''ll give him a special lecture hall and see how he stumbled and lost so much face until he will want to crawl into a hole with shame!


    Outwardly, this girl didn''t show a single bit of emotion.


    Just like an inborn five-star actress.

 10 Rolands Public Lecture Part 1

    After lunch time, Roland wasescorted to a big sophisticated hall. It was the main public lecture hall at the best institution of learning in the empire; surprisingly it was just beside the main castle.


    He was impressed with the facilities; the students'' seats were in ascending height, while the main stage was the lowest with a podium at the middle. This hall could easily accommodate 1000 students at one time.


    He could see streaks of slow-moving viscous bluish water the size of a bamboo pole running through every couple of sections of the seats straight down towards the main stage. At end of the hall, the waterway encircled the outermost seats.


    It was a sight to behold.


    Although the seats were nearly filled, droves after droves of pretty girls were still entering the hall nonstop. He could even detect some men, old ladies and grandpas among the audience.


    Once all the seats were taken, others gathered at the outer perimeter of the waterway while dragging their own chair. Roland could feel their great enthusiasm.


    Roland furrowed his brow, "Where does all these people come from? The target of this lecture are witches working on the three research groups and their helpers. There shouldn''t be this many people."


    Linneia answered calmly, "Most of them are witches. The remaining are professionals in some specialized fields such as professional educators, physicists, inventors, theorists, and mathematicians.


    "When they heard that their famed Immortal King is going to give a lecture, they come as quick aslightning. I don''t have the heart to turn them away, Your Highness. I''m sorry." She tried to make an innocent face that indicates that she has nothing to do with this situation.


    Roland stared at Linneia deeply a few seconds more and she squirmed uneasily inside.


    Roland wasn''t angry at all with his childish descendant. She reminded him of the mischief that Maggie and Lightning has done in the past. It was very endearing. Contrarily, he was very impressed with her ability to amass these audience so soon.


    Nevertheless, deep inside his heart, he felt somewhat guilty.


    He was actually going to give unverified theories to these people. He really hoped they won''t truly take it at face value and worked out the rest themselves.


    Although the popular real warp drive theory used as a basis for many sci-fi movies revised by Dr. White was significantly better, the lab tests still didn''t publish any significant positive success as of the time he transmigrated. When he left earth, it was still impossible to travel at faster than light-speed.


    To Roland, it has been his greatest regrets for not being there to witness the progression of the popular sci-fi idea.


    [At the end of the day, did the mini warping device tested by Dr. White gave a positive answer?]


    [Did NASA or even CNSA pursued a pilot scale testing after that?]


    [Right now, did humans from his previous homeland succeeded in achieving interstellar travel and goes beyond the Milky Way?]


    It was human''s greatest romance to travel to space freely.


    As Roland readied himself to walk to the podium with resignation, he noticed three small rectangular-like black boxes at three corners of the stage. On the podium itself was a bowl-like crystal blue liquid.


    "What is the bowl with blue substance and black boxes for?" He gestured the items to his ''assistant''. He was not up to date with all these items built by young people. Only gadgets made by Celine was known to him as he was mostly the main idea contributor. Those items were inspired from the numerous spy movies he watched in his previous life.


    Linneia professionally smiled, "Gadgets for presentation assistance. No worries, Your Highness Ancestor King. You don''t have to do a thing. Please start with your talk."


    Roland cleared his throat as he detected an amused look fleeting through his assistant''s face.


    Since she doesn''t have any ill intent, he let it slide.


    These young people forgot that he had lived so long and had faced millions of people. Even without using his mental powers, he could still discern things through experience.


    Roland went forward and stood before the podium confidently. He exuded an erudite scholarly aura.


    Since things had turn to this level, might as well come clean with these professionals and enthusiasts. He really hoped that everyone will work hand in hand in order to overcome this crisis.


    "Good evening to all of you. I am Roland Wimbledon, the founder of this empire." Roland smiled gently to the audience.


    As soon as he spoke, the three rectangular black boxes hover in the air and conjured a gigantic 3D holographic image of him behind his back. The blue viscous liquid rippled following his voice. It surprisingly had the effect of amplifying his voice, similar to a microphone. The liquid inside the mini waterway encircling the lecture hall reverberated simultaneously in tandem with the movement of viscous blue liquid inside the bowl.


    [Ah...I see. The waterway was not just a decoration. It receives a signal from the main bowl on this podium and transmit the voice from their side. Genius!] Roland commended in his heart.


    He made a sweeping stare to all the audiences present.


    "We are but a speck of dust in this vast world."


    He heard an animated chatter and exclamation through the crowd.


    He continued, "All of you might know that we lived on a spherical planet with a hot metallic center. However, we are one of the many planets in existence with a ninth proximity to the source of warmth to our planet, the sun.


    Let''s go directly to the main part in my lecture. I propose a mass migration from our planet to a habitable planet outside of our own solar system."


    Linneia gasped with her ancestor''s straightforwardness.


    Confused murmurs were heard among the large crowd. Not many knew the real reason for the globally-occurring fire disasters and the reasons behind an abrupt lecture by their famed Immortal King. After all, Roland had only declared the result of his investigation yesterday to the key governmental officials of the empire.


    "So, the question is, why must we migrate, and how to migrate?" He stressed the question clearly.


    "The reason for this is because the land that we live is dying, irreversibly. After an in-depth investigation with the finest team present, we have concluded that these disasters will keep on happening, increasing in frequency."


    He took a deep breath, "We have 50 years before our planet ceased to exist. Before that, in five years, no living things will be able to walk on the surface of the earth as it would be too hot to step on."


    The hall became quiet all of the sudden. Only Roland''s amplified voice was heard.


    "Why not find a way to remedy this rather than running away? Some of you might came up with this notion." He asked the question with a solemn expression.


    "It''s because it was caused by an external factor, the sun." He pointed upwards, towards the roof of the hall.


    "Our sun is a star, a massive one at that. That is why although we are far away from the center, we can still feel its warmth. It runs on hydrogen to fuel the nuclear reactions which make it emits light and heat.


    However, a star has a life cycle, just like human, animals and plants do. Once the hydrogen runs out, the nuclear reactions move outwards to use the hydrogen shell surrounding the sun. This resulted in the cooling and expansion of the outer region of the sun, making it redder. Let''s call it the Red Giant.


    The expansion of the sun engulfs the nearby planetary bodies surrounding it. We have found some evidence showing these events occurring for the past 1000 years. It''s just that, nobody realized it all this while. Maybe, the weather at that time was a bit hotter than usual for a few years." Roland tried to explain the life-cycle of the star to the professionals in simple terms.


    After a short pause for the audience to digest was he explained, he continued, "After that, its core shrunk due to gravity before the temperature and pressure increased again until the condition was ripe for the sun to start the nuclear fusion again, this time using helium, since hydrogen has been expended at that time.


    As helium decreases in amount, the second core shrinking begins, and the helium shell surrounding the shrunken core started to burn, and the hydrogen surrounding the helium core burns together. This leads to the Second Red Giant phase where the outer region of the sun expands again." He paused again.


    "Citizens of Graycastle, the sun is going through its last energy-releasing phase, this phase, before going into it final stage. Once the gravity from the core is not balanced out with outward pressure from the outer layers, the sun will start to collapse. We are at a critical juncture right now.


    You may ask, what may be the implication of the final stage of the sun''s life. It will end in a massive explosion, enough to light up the entire galaxy for a few days, which, unfortunately, will decimate all in its path, including this planet. That was what will happen to us in about 50 years'' time."


    Panicked chatters were heard in the crowd. Roland quickly raised both of his hands up to quieten them down, and finally place his index finger to his lips with a ''silent'' sign. He stopped lecturing until everyone''s frayed nerves calmed down. He believed everyone present will want to hear his solution.


    After a while, the hall felt silent again, he continued, "Good! Let''s proceed with the ''how'' part". He smiled reassuringly.


    The audiences held their breath. Every pair of eyes stared at the podium intently.


    Only the miraculous Immortal King Roland could come up with a solution in this helpless situation.

 11 Rolands Public Lecture Part 2

    Professor Newton was silently contemplating the shocking statements of the Immortal King in the midst of all the uproar and chattering.


    He was a governmental retiree and a current senior academician in the Royal Neverwinter Academy. His lectures were highly sought after while he himself remained humble and sagely; garnering a popular following between the young scholars of the empire. He was even more popular than the current superstars in the entertainment industry.


    What he was proud and valued most, was his family name.


    It was coincidentally similar to the Newtonian mechanics introduced by the Immortal King 3000 years ago. A lot of information under the Newton series disseminated in the Physics'' textbooks had made his family very popular for generations. In addition, through the efforts of his ancestors, his family had contributed greatly to the advancement of academics'' study of many fields and thus established themselves as distinguished scholars and academicians.


    This morning when he was having his routine morning tea, the Roseberry tea leaf inside his mug floated vertically.


    He knew something good might happen today. It has been a series of bad news for months; Newton was having a heartache every day when he read the Graycastle Electronic Bulletin daily on his old dusty gray contactor. He was one of the few people who rejected the implantation of the Neural Connector, saying he''s too old for it already. Nobody forced him since he had just retired from his governmental position at that time.


    During noon, he got a message from his old colleague through his faithful contactor. The Immortal King himself was going to give a lecture!


    He immediately cancelled his class which was scheduled after lunch and even made an announcement telling his students about the upcoming public lecture.


    Good things should be shared.


    A panicked student sitting beside him asked in a whisper, "Are we going to die Prof?!"


    "Hush, little one. Let''s listen first. The Immortal King never betrays our expectations." He patted the little girl''s head. She was the genius girl who topped his class for two years consecutively.


    He concentrated and focused on Roland''s voice.


    The immortal king''s voice reverberated again after everyone has calmed down and refocused on him. "We have two options that we can consider." He raised two fingers, showing a ''peace'' sign.


    "First option; a mass fleet of space carriers carrying everyone inside."


    "These carriers speed must be able to exceed the speed-of-light to make the journey possible within our lifetime. The carriers'' body or more accurately the surrounding forcefield must be strong enough to withstand bombardment from space particles such as debris, asteroids and such, while maintaining the high velocity. It must move out of the sun''s explosion range before the 50 years was up. Currently, we don''t have the technology to make a spaceship with this speed and capabilities because this is an unexplored region."


    "To achieve this, I have come up with a theoretical calculation that might make it possible. Let''s call it the Alcubierre Warp Drive, or simply a Warp Drive." Newton saw his idol smiled bashfully and was curious why.


    [Is this Alcubierre Warp Drive spoken by His Majesty got some problems maybe?] Newton pondered.


    Truthfully, he was someone who was very interested with what''s beyond their home planet and had derived several postulates based on his long-term understanding of physics.


    Newton saw the immortal king passing a tablet-like device to their crown princess, Princess Linneia, and asked her to project the information for all the audience to see. It was scribbled with strings of mathematical formula, the main Alcubierre metric and its modified derivatives.


    Seeing the string of formula, Newton''s hand trembled! He closed his fingers into a fist.


    "Prof?! Are you alright?!" The lovely girl beside Newton realized something was wrong with their class'' favorite lecturer. Deep down she was worried this old professor might got a heart attack under her care. She was beginning to panic again.


    Newton ignored her and stared at the projected formula with seriousness while contemplating something.


    [This is the completed version of my postulates! Fascinating! I never know it could be derived this way!] Newton was getting more and more excited.


    "The Warp drive utilized negative energy to contract the space in front the spaceship while expanding the space behind simultaneously. The region moves along while carrying the spaceship as the spaceship stays in a normal region within the region. This region will be generated by White''s warp ring in the shape of a torus."


    The immortal king gestured to Princess Linneia to switch the diagram to how a warp-bubble evolved into a warp-ring reduced the energy needed to be powered with new sets of equations as accompaniment.


    "Some of you might notice from these equations, their questionable relevancy. I will tell you the truth. The equation present here was merely theoretical. There will be a lot of problems arises from them. It will be up to you to verify and make it possible."


    Newton nodded subconsciously. "It needed a specialized material. If not, this might not work." He whispered to himself regretfully. Is migrating through space will just happens in his dreams? He wondered.


    The immortal king paused again.


    [He was quite melodramatic, I must say.] Newton commented amusingly in his heart.


    What came next from His Majesty''s mouth was music to Newton''s ears.


    This erudite immortal king begun to introduce a series of special materials, which he termed as exotic matter to the audience. These materials were not composed of baryon, as opposed to other normally occurring matter. The most astonishing of all, these materials exuded negative energy; when applying positive forward force on this particular matter, it will produce an acceleration on the opposite direction. This characteristic was ideal for initiating the ''warping effect'' of space-time according to the equations.


    The benevolent immortal king even painstakingly explained in detail about the negative mass and complex mass along with dark matter, antimatter and mirror matter to enrich the masses of the new kind of knowledge; an innovative way of viewing physics.


    Newton glanced around the hall to see familiar faces showing signs of comprehension similar to him. Professor Rogers from a few seats away noticed him and gave him a congratulatory nod. They both understood that they had managed to gain enlightenment and inspiration from this public lecture.


    "To date, I could not say there is an exotic matter present naturally. However, our team of experts have found a way to artificially create one." The next statement by the immortal king finally made everyone behaved like people being injected by chicken blood. Surprise exclamations were heard from the crowd everywhere and it became noisy again.


    The immortal king gestured them to calm down.


    Newton didn''t hear anything else anymore.


    He planned to immediately apply to join the research team responsible for building the Warp Drive after the lecture was over.


    He knew his inspiration right now will definitely contribute substantially towards the device''s development.


    ...


    Roland was feeling hopeful when he looked at the crowd.


    He could see unfeigned understanding from various faces, especially the older ones. He felt extremely gratified and proud.


    The empire he built with his own two hands has truly come far.


    He continued, "Let''s talk about the second option present for space migration."


    "Another way to travel across the universe is by making a teleportation device, the Interstellar Gate. It has the effect of making an artificial wormhole which links two separate points in spacetime. This needed more work. However, the basis of powering up the portal similarly might fall on the same exotic matter discussed earlier."


    "I believe there is no need to start from scratch for this technology. Although we might not have background knowledge on this matter, we already have a lead for this technology. The team main responsibility will be to research how to utilize this gate including the energy mechanism. I have a feeling that the same theory will greatly help our research in this area"


    "So, hope is not lost, everyone!" Roland increased his volume, exuding a confident stance. He knew, how he viewed things will affect the mindset of the masses.


    "Both methods are potentially possible, but needed time to be realized, which we''re lack of. So we must substitute it with human resource. You all." He gestured to everyone present.


    "We needed the help of all of you to make this a reality. Let''s work together to make the survival of the inhabitants of this planet possible. If you think you could and should contribute, please join the teams that you''re interested in to make it a reality."


    As Roland stepped down from the podium, a thunderous clap were heard.


    The professionals of Graycastle stood up from their seats and saluted Roland reverently. Everyone''s gaze was filled with hope and positivity.


    A standing ovation ensued.

 12 Belathine Empire

    Hi! Mr and Mrs Mooncat here!


    Sorry to intrude on your reading. This is the last chapter for this week which marks the end of the RTW contest (end of June). At the beginning, both of us never expected to write a second novel; we leisurely write a fun lighthearted novel ''A Sojourn of a transmigrated Housewife''.


    When the RTW contest popped up earlier this month, both of us said to each other, why not? It can indirectly expose our main novel to bigger audiences too. We absolutely adore RTW and sometimes wonder what could happen next. (This is our biggest past time, we love to narrate to each other a bombastic continuations of a lot of stories such as ''Yamato'', ''Code geas'', or even ''disney''s frozen''..strangely all of them turned sci-fi and directed towards space dominion) *laughes* so childish! (bashful)


    So, again, why not right? Most importantly its fun!


    So, the question is, what comes next?


    As all of you know, the ASTHW is a weekly release (if not, Mrs Mooncat will tell you now haha). From this, Mrs Mooncat was able to save some chapters during rainy days. However, for GW, it was a write-to-post basis, typically every 2 days, 1 chapter. We really don''t have any back up chapters at hand. However, we persisted since we have promised to give our all for the month of june.


    To readers who was hooked with the development (thank you so much!), do not fret! We will not put the GW to stop or on hiatus. However, we need to reduce the releases to match ASTHW to once a week so that we can start piling on the chapters again. With this, both of us won''t be so stressed anymore haha


    ASTHW will be released on Monday mornings while GW will be released on Tuesday mornings weekly. No worries, when the stocks increased, we''ll make double releases etcs for you guys. Bear in mind, this is still a short story. Since we want to maintain the quality to a certain level, it had prolong to this level. However, the number of chapters won''t be too much, that is a promise. It won''t become neverending.


    Please wait for it and keep on supporting us.


    Lastly, thank you a lot for fellow authors/readers who helped us improve ourselves. We did feel a marked increase in delivering our story from this contest.


    Without further ado~


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Pasha was approaching the border of Belathine, the Oni''s empire at the Zooras continent after travelling for few hours. It was located to the southwest of the Impassable Mountain Ranges.


    She is travelling comfortably in her flying camouflaged car which was the only one of its kind. It could bend the lights from the surrounding which produced an invisibility effect.


    As usual, Celine was the one who refitted the engine originally developed by the young exemplary witch girl, Anya, into a fast-moving vehicle, though it was just about Mach 30at full power.


    She switched off the modified hand-carry VIRCOF mounted on the dashboard of her car. A few hours ago, she got a notification from Roland to listen in on his ad-hoc speech. He stressed that it was very important and every personnel from the Witch Intelligence Agency must tune in and listen to it.


    This resulted in a haphazard arrangement, where she sent an agent to the crowd to stream and record the speech live. Agents who were in active duty will be sent with an encrypted record of the speech to listen in later. She had no choice; all three of the Witch Elders were on the move to their respective mission.


    She was yet again very impressed with Roland''s profundity. Roland had shown her again and again that knowledge was boundless; although he was as weak as a chicken, he could still rule the world.


    However, for this time, she wasn''t enlightened with the speech; there was a lot in her mind on the three incidents that prevented her from understanding. Furthermore, it was way too advance with a lot of terms and concepts were out of the norm from the standard Neverwinter education she received before.


    She believes that only Celine would have a chance to gain anything out of it.


    At the border she sent an encrypted code to the Senior Witch responsible for the area, Helen, for a coordinate to rendezvous.


    Unbeknownst to her, the encrypted code was intercepted midway, failing to reach the Senior Witch.


    ...


    One of Aruthos''s assistant had intercepted a mysterious encrypted code from an unknown entity at the border of Semoa, at the edge of the Belathine Empire.


    "High General! An unidentified flying object was spotted stealthily trying to enter our empire without permission, sir! It was moving at extremely high speed. We could only detect it from the leaked code but not the source." The young Belathinian analyst reported nervously.


    Aruthos''s heroic brow furrowed menacingly.


    These d*mn foreign spies keep on coming one after another!


    He was helpless with the current civil war embroiling his nation. As the highest military authority in the empire, he didn''t support any faction. He knew, whoever he supported will ultimately gain the empire.


    Till now he wasn''t sure which faction will be beneficial for the empire. Therefore, he didn''t interfere with their conflicts and only focused in dealing with the cumbersome aftermath. After all, the strongest faction usually will result in a strong leadership afterwards. Right now, he vigilantly concentrated on exterminating external threats.


    However, what made him truly mad was all three factions contesting for the highest seat were actually backed by foreign forces which was unfriendly to Belathine. Their ulterior motives were to create more confusion and anarchy in the empire before they could take the advantage to swoop in and take over. Several spies infiltrating their empire from all side were caught and confirmed his suspicion.


    Even someone as straightforward as him could see it as clear as day. Why didn''t the stupid representative from the different factions notice this? They should be shrewd enough to notice. Unless they were traitors of the nation.


    As Aruthos kept on thinking with an unpleasant expression, the young analyst saw the high general''s expression getting darker and darker. He trembled slightly and tried hard to keep his face down.


    The high general was the strongest Belathinian in the empire. He also held the highest military power in this nation. If he offended such a figure, he should just pack up and leave the empire; there would never be any advancement for him in the future.


    "High General, the unknown object will enter the Main Capital airspace in five minutes." The analyst reminded him again.


    "In which direction?"


    "North-east. Two o''clock direction. Four minutes." He gulped.


    Aruthos''s stood up to a height of 2.5 meters. His single curved horn at his forehead was sharp and gleaming. His body rippled with powerful muscles.


    It''s about time to show these d*mn foreigners not to mess with a Belathinian.


    He hovered in the air and shot out from hallway. In his hand was a futuristic-looking metallic halberd.


    ...


    A tall and stalwart Oni with reddish bronze skin suddenly appeared directly in front of Pasha''s flying car''s trajectory. The Oni''s long black hair whipped about wildly, making an intimidating scene.


    He flew without assistance with a gigantic halberd-like weapon in his right hand, ready to attack.


    Pasha knew she had been found out.


    She stopped the car and prepared to go out and explain to the local expert in front of her.


    However, the other party, accelerated instead! The Oni didn''t give her a chance!


    He will clash with Pasha in few seconds!


    She detected an unyielding ill intent aiming towards her.


    "Hmph! Know your place!" She snorted coldly.


    She had tried to be more solicitous towards the other party. Since the other party won''t accept it, let''s just talk with our fists!


    "Initiate Recombinant Protocol version 3.0"


    Pasha''s flying car suddenly disassembled into three pieces as she hovered in midair!


    The flying car''s chassis including its engine system and exhaust turned into a large hoverboard . Magnetic clasps were attached to the hoverboard where Pasha placed her feet. The complemented magnets were also strategically placed on her body to help her to balance herself well on the hoverboard in any situation.


    The upper exoskeleton of the car rearranged its translucent particles and flew towards Pasha''s body, equipping her like a scaled silvery armor. Her head was covered with a metallic helmet. A red horizontal visor replaced her eye function. Her shoulders were adorned with epaulets which held a translucent-like cape behind her back.


    The last piece of the disassembled car consisted of magic stones and metal shards. They rearranged themselves into metallic gauntlets adorned with a rotary disc each. The discs were embedded with six multicolored magic stones. Both gauntlets equipped themselves to Pasha''s arms automatically.


    The assembly took less than five seconds to complete.


    Pasha calmly poured in her magic energy into her gloves at the last seconds as she awaited Aruthos.


    Within the next seconds, both clashed in midair with Pasha''s thrusting her fists forward and Aruthos''s thrusting his weapon.


    The clash created a shockwave of several tens of kilometers midair, dispersing the clouds in the surroundings with both retreated several steps.


    ...


    Aruthos was shocked with the human lady in armor''s physical strength!


    His hands were bleeding between his index finger and thumb on both hands. He was mentally blown away by the stranger in front of him.


    He could not accept that this human woman was stronger than him, an entity who was the strongest in the empire!


    Just like a modern Valkyrie. The thoughts that fleeted through his mind make his reaction one tenth of a second slower as he received a knee strike to his abdomen before he could react.


    The strike was so powerful until he was sent away directly towards the ground like a shooting meteor making a small crater.


    He roared angrily as he got out of the hole and launched himself again towards the armor-clad woman. He swung his halberd and tried to hack the woman again with a loud roar. The halberd which can previously destroy a mountain shone with a pale golden light.


    To Aruthos''s shock, the woman did not even evade and coolly held up the blade of the halberd with a single empty hand while looking in his direction. He could feel that the halberd encountered a repelling force from the witch''s hand. It made his halberd slowed down until it fully stopped in her grasp.


    It was like the halberd and her gloves were opposite poles; it made no sense to him at all!


    A witch! He exclaimed in his heart.


    He could almost feel that under the red visor, the woman must be laughing at him. Rage clouded his eyes as he felt shame washed over him!


    Thinking that his dignity was compromised, the fuming Aruthos activated his halberd as it shapeshifted into a rifle-like weapon. He channeled his qiinto the weapon and bombarded the woman point-blank in a surprise attack.


    "Ah.." A lovely startled voice was heard from within the metallic helmet as she was blasted to the ground.


    He went all out with his qi and filled up his prized Qi Bursting Halberd to the maximum while roaring heroically!


    Continuous bombardment akin to the sound of cannon resounded for a full five minutes. The shockwaves generated from the bombardment was like a strong storm blowing from all directions launching dust and debris into the surrounding.


    As the high general depleted his qi reservoir without reserve, the bombardment came to a stop. Heaving heavily from exhaustion, Aruthos waited for the dust to settle. His mind had regained a semblance of clarity.


    He was very sure at least the woman was mortality wounded and will be under his mercy. Then, he would magnanimously treat her, and enquired her about the reason for her intrusion. He had developed a deep respect for the expert in front of him, regardless of gender.


    ¡­


    A minute was all it took for the dust to settle. It revealed a thoroughly furious Pasha behind the metallic helmet. The fluttering translucent cape behind Pasha''s back has formed a layer of barrier for defense in front of her. Besides that, no even a speck of dust settled on her armor.


    "Courting death!" Pasha instantaneously vanished from Aruthos'' view.


    "Sh*t! Not good! "His expression changed as Aruthos could feel death was approaching from his back.

 13 Didn’t You Study This at School?

    Pasha was extremely annoyed by the unreasonable Oni in front of her. She had stayed her hands the whole time and try not to hurt the Oni too badly.


    However, the foolish Oni kept on egging her into action. The cannon-like bombardment was her last straw.


    Although she was not hurt, the shield energy from the specialized cape nearly depleted to its lowest level. Just a little bit more and it would''ve ruin her new cape.


    The cape came with a set of epaulets; they were the most recent upgrade for the customized Recombinant-mobile suit. However, it was still under beta testing with issues on control. It was a newly developed technology by Celine (who else?).


    Celine, with the help of that geeky Roland, managed to merge the soul of a rare mutated intelligent demonic beast into the epaulets, giving them sentience. In turn, the epaulets were the ones emitting the cape-like shield behind her back. They will work synergistically together by automatically deflecting incoming projectiles undetected by the user from all angles.


    It was a novel invention. His Highness kept muttering "not Jarvis enough, a bit more, a bit more" with a crazed look in his eyes before. Whatever that means. Pasha was already immune to Celine''s and Roland''s intermittent insanity when it comes to inventions.


    However, this invention has a major defect. As long as the bombardment continued, Pasha was helpless as she could not dictate the sentient epaulets to stop protecting her. As long as she was alert, she could''ve evade or deflect any incoming projectiles. Celine had repeatedly asked her to take a great care for it before she embarked on her own mission.


    The disc embedded with magic stones on her left gauntlet rotated as Pasha willed it. The gray magic stone was locked on a port before Pasha''s accumulated magic energy flowed in. It reacted with the stone and powered her armor.


    Pasha instantly slipped into a gray world full of lines as she prepared to teach the Oni a lesson he will never forget.


    ...


    As she walked within the gray world similar to Nightingale''s, Pasha demonstrated a movement akin to teleportation from Aruthos'' perspective.


    With a deviation of only 0.1 second, she reappeared behind the Oni.


    She clasped both of her hands together and bashed it on his back with half of her strength. The large Oni was forced to bend down from the hit!


    Pasha slipped back into the mist and reappeared in front of Aruthos in a flash with a mighty knee attack on his abdomen. Aruthos vomited blood while he was lifted to the air from the force.


    However, Aruthos'' poor ordeal was far from over!


    The irritated elder witch appeared behind his back and launched another double fisted bash to his spine!


    He could almost feel his spine cracked from the impact as he was plunged deep into the earth, creating a deep crater. The crater was tens of meter in diameter with dust flying around, preventing Pasha vision.


    Deep inside the earth, Aruthos deeply regretted his decision to find fault with this crazy witch.He knew now he was not going to defeat her using normal methods. He needed to wager with his life to get the smallest chance to defeat her. Gritting his teeth, he resolved his heart and painfully reached out his necklace which contains a white pearly pill. He popped the pill inside his mouth and channeled his qi to spread the medicine as fast as possible.


    Aruthos then bit the tip of his tongue to produce his life essence with the help of the essence-extracting pill.


    By burning the life essence, he could increase his power by three-fold although it will reduce his lifespan. Aruthos particularly consumed 100 years'' worth of lifespan for his attack. His injuries rapidly healed while his long black hair was gradually striped with white ones. His eyes turned red with a tinge of craziness.


    He was going to bet it all with this final attack.


    ....


    Pasha was slightly surprised when she saw the hardheaded Oni fly out of the deep crater with his injuries looked almost healed. Her eyes showed signs of praise. Her attack just now was enough to level two mountains stacked together. Others would''ve instantly perished.


    [This little Oni is quite tough.] She praised in her heart.


    [Let''s see what else he can show me.]


    The Oni looked up at the hovering witch in front of him and spoke with his deep macho voice; it was in Belathinian. "I have to admit that you are the strongest opponent that I have fought in 1000 years of my lifetime. Prepared to receive my strongest attack! If you succeed in blocking it, I will admit defeat! Do you dare?!" His voice reverberated valiantly towards her in a wave-like attack.


    Pasha harrumphed without answering and broke the soundwave attack nonchalantly while waiting for the Oni to unleash his strongest technique. This Oni child really like to play, thought Pasha.


    The high general channeled all the accumulated qi and pumped it into his prized artifact halberd.


    "Ultimate Heavenly Halberd Technique!" He shouted while swinging his halberd in some complicated trajectories. He was infusing a profound formation with his movements and continued releasing hundreds of wind slashes swiftly into the surrounding.


    The wind slashes moved about in different trajectories, filling up the space around them. However, none of them has yet to reach Pasha. What was intriguing is that the slashes didn''t disappear as they persisted in intact form, circling around Pasha as the numbers keep on increasing.


    This technique was developed by Aruthos from a fruitatious encounter in a secret domain he unintentionally entered during his adventuring days. The sealed secret domain''s landscape was heavily destroyed by countless mysterious slashes that permanently tear even the fabric of space. The high general had adapted what he comprehended into his Halberd Technique after months of meditation in front of the mighty strikes.


    Pasha was amusingly confused.


    [What the heck is this little Oni doing? Is he mentally retarded to shout his secret technique like that???]


    Before he even finished unleashing his theatrical attack, Pasha could''ve chop off his head there and then, at least three times. She only waited because she was amused with his antics and was quite interested with the different kind of power these Onis can utilized.


    Finally, he stomped heavily while swinging his halberd down in a wide arc!


    "Take my fourth and final technique! Severing Heaven and Earth!"


    All the hovering slashes fused into a gigantic golden crescent-shaped attack and travelled towards Pasha almost instantaneously.


    The elder witch grinned as she willed the disc on her left gauntlet to rotate and produced a black fiery whip. With few flick of her wrist, she launched the whip to face off against the gigantic attack.


    A crisscrossed black fiery airwavewas generated from her whip''s movement. Pasha''s seemingly gentle attack crumbled the mighty golden halberd attack just like that!


    The residues of Aruthos'' attack passed by Pasha as they bombarded the faraway mountain ranges behind her, crumbling them to smithereens.


    Aruthos gaped with horror! "How could you defeat my technique so easily like that?"


    He frailly swayed as his knee buckled. The elder witch''s counter had robbed him of his 100 years of lifespan and his confidence as the greatest expert in the empire.


    "Don''t you study this at school? Fire always defeat air as per the four elements interaction."


    Pasha shook her head, amused with Aruthos ignorance. She was wondering who the teacher of this ignorant Oni could be. He even said he was 1000 years old to boot. What a waste of time.


    Aruthos eyes were getting blurry as his mind, body and heart started to waiver.


    [Am I going to be defeated just like this?! Am I going to fail my homeland??]


    [Is this my fate???]


    [I''m unwilling!]


    [I''m extremely unwilling!!!]

 14 A Pitiful Little Oni

    Right now, Aruthos came to a crucial decision!


    [If I can''t beat you, I will perish with you!] He concentrated his qi to his feet and charged forward towards the armored woman with determination.


    In his heart, he only felt regret for not winning the heart of the woman he loved after trying for so long.


    [Goodbye my love...]


    He then engaged Pasha in a close ranged duel using his halberd. Pasha nonchalantly deflected each slash and each thrust using her gauntlets. She didn''t even bother to attack which pissed Aruthos even more.


    The remaining energy from the combustion of his life energy was diminishing as his attacks became duller and lack of energy. The witch must have realized this as Aruthos panicked inside his heart. She knew he would be exhausted any second now.


    At the last second, Aruthos screamed with madness and threw his halberd towards Pasha. As Pasha blocked the halberd and lost sight of him for a split second, Aruthos took advantage of the precious milliseconds and grabbed ahold of Pasha''s thighs. He was planning to ignite his remaining life essence and explode together with the witch!


    ...


    Pasha was extremely shocked and furious.


    The weak Oni had the gall to hug her! At her sensitive parts at that! Imagine where his face would be when the arms were locked on her thighs. Green veins were seen throbbing at her temples. The synchronization between her soul and the customized body was so great until she could feel the contact like every other person.


    This little Oni had challenged her limit again and again. It time to end this little game.


    She slammed her elbow to the Oni''s head to give him a well-deserved concussion and loosened his grip. Then it was followed by a knee strike to make Aruthos float in the air before finally unleashing a bad-ass spinning kick on the poor Oni who''s trying to ignite his final life essence. Aruthos was helplessly walloped to a nearby mountain like a ragdoll.


    This time, Pasha followed through with her attack; she jumped down from her hoverboard and send side-kicks one after another towards his chest with fury.


    A molester didn''t need any pity.


    The Oni vomited blood and showed signs of fainting as his uncontrollable body smashed the ground yet again for the third time. However, this annoying bugger kept on struggling to get up, albeit weakly.


    Pasha stepped on his chest with her boots and pushed him down with a stomp, "You despicable little Oni! Stand down! If not, you''ll suffer some more."


    The suffering Oni struggled even harder! It pissed Pasha to the maximum this time!


    [What is wrong with this guy!? Is he a masochist?!]


    Pasha turned the disc on her gauntlet again, this time towards the green magic stone. Green vines with thorns erupted from Pasha''s palm and wrapped up the struggling Oni into a fat green slug. As the poison from the thorns pierced through the Oni''s skin, his struggle turned slightly weaker.


    ...


    The bitter Aruthos was struggling with all his might!


    The combustion of his life essence had greatly weakened him. However, since he didn''t manage to ignite the last bit of it for taking down the woman just now, he could still exude some energy.


    Shame clouded his face as he heard himself being called ''a despicable little Oni''. It was a first for him to be insulted this way.


    He must escape as soon as possible and gather his battalion. This expert was too strong when compared to himself. If he didn''t go all out and use all the resources of the empire, this monster will totally wipe out every single one of his brethren.


    At least they must make a last stand!


    Only with that, maybe all factions will reunite to fight against a single enemy.


    The mighty Valkyrie used a different magic to bind him, but he was sure he could free himself. Aruthos made a last-ditch effort to free himself by biting the green thorny vines and even used his sharp horn desperately.


    [I can do it! I can do it!] He psyched himself fervently.


    Maybe what he did angered the woman.


    "Shitty little oni! YOU ASKED FOR IT!"


    The woman went insane and beat him up left and right, up and down, and then left and right again, like a pitiful little ''punching bag'' instead of an oni. The beatings ensued for a long time until he was totally weakened.


    He suffered deeply and bitterly, until he was on the verge of fainting.


    He could almost hear the sound of someone shouting his name from a faraway place. He strained hard to open his blurry eyes when he saw a blurry yet familiar figure from afar, "Little Leila, run.." He managed to utter a muffled sound before his vision went totally dark.


    ....


    Helen brought Leila to the site where she last detected the encrypted message from the elder witch she was supposed to receive a while ago.


    She was worried when she heard a loud explosion coming from the site.


    She managed to receive a message from headquarters saying that an elder witch was en route for further investigation. However, after the stipulated time, she was still waiting to be contacted.


    After using her means, she found out that an unknown encrypted message has been intercepted by the Belathine military intelligence. She had an ominous premonition.


    When she reached the location where the last known code was intercepted, she scanned the surrounding and found the elder witch fighting someone tens of kilometers away.


    It looked very one sided though.


    It was not a fight, rather, it was more like a trashing. She felt pity to the person on the other end; which unlucky Oni had crossed paths with the elder witch? And even enraged her to this extend?


    Following the temperaments of an Oni, that person must''ve attacked first without regard. Elder Witch Pasha was always known as a refined and elegant lady. She rarely showed an unpleasant expression.


    However, this time Helen could feel the anger emanating from the armor-clad elder witch; there was no need to see her face.


    As she got nearer, the figure at the bottom of the elder witch''s foot was surprisingly familiar, although he was in an extremely sorry state.


    Leila ran forward and cling on the boots of the elder witch nervously, "Madam Pasha, please let off my Uncle Aruthos." She whimpered with tears and snot running down her face.


    "Please! This little one beseech you!" She made her winning pitiful expression and banged her forehead on the ground repeatedly to garner even more pity.


    ...


    Pasha heaved heavily; she was not tired, but extremely angered by the bastard''s tenacity. A surprise expression flitted her face as she faced the snotty girl.


    [Ah, the new recruit.] Her mind clicked with the latest developments during the last meeting.


    She took a breather and lifted off her leg. She did plan to stop beating the lights out of the perverted Oni anyway.


    Leila checked his breathing and found that the high general was still alive. She heaved a relieved sigh as do Helen.


    "Thank you Madam!" said both Leila and Helen


    "Sure." Removing her helmet, she flipped her long hair to the side and coughed pretentiously as she admitted that she was a little bit carried away. Noticing Helen concerned face, she knew that Helen must have known the Oni as well. Let me ask her later.


    The Oni was weak, but admittedly, very tenacious. He kept on trying either to retaliate or to run. It made her so mad; she unintentionally hit the guy a little too hard.


    However, she was mindful not to permanently cripple the pitiful guy for eternity. After all, it seemed that this guy is quite strong. It was very hard to train oneself to reach this level.


    She respected everyone who could persist and train until they can achieve this level of strength. This guy was at least 30 % as strong as her. Bear in mind, she was a 3000 years old witch with abundance of experience, magic reservoir, and battle strength. She was even older than Roland himself.


    She glanced at the despicable but pitiful little Oni one last time before she continued wrapping him up totally with Leaf-like powers.


    "Sigh. Really. He asked for it." She murmured with resignation. It felt good to let go of accumulated stress, especially on someone who''s a pervert. What surprised her the most was his relationship with the new recruit. She needed to clarify everything first before taking the next action.


    "Deactivate Recombinant Protocol 3.0".


    The hoverboard flew down and recombined with her reassembled battle gears into a sleek flying car.


    "Get in." She gestured to both of agents.


    They moved to a different direction from the Main Capital. She needed to re-access the situation and get to know her new captive.


    Seeing her captive being bound up tightly like a slug, Pasha found the situation a bit funny and very satisfying.


    Ignoring the fact that this guy face was totally swollen like a pig, he did look a little like a superstar fad which was quite popular in Neverwinter as of late, when he valiantly faced her head on just now. She was quite up to date to the latest trends in the empire from reading all the progress reports sent by her agents.


    [The style is there.] Pasha laughed silently.


    [A pity. He''s a little short in the head.]


    [Maybe that''s the innate characteristics of all Onis?] Pasha was reminded by Celine''s and Helen''s conversation about Leila.


    [Or maybe because both of them are somehow related?] Though Pasha didn''t see any similarities between them.


    She shrugged absentmindedly.


    ...

 15 Belathines Power Reshuffling

    Aruthos woke up as he felt pain all over his body, especially his face, as his senses cleared up gradually. He then realized that a beautiful human woman was staring at him with a composed manner with a book like device on her hand.


    This woman must be the mighty witch who beat him up. Although the helmet was not there, and the clothes were different, the body shape and hair were the same. She looked to be in her 30s with an allure of a mature woman; she got all her curves right.


    He tried to make sense of his surrounding as he realized he was placed on a sofa bed in an unknown underground location.


    The air smelled sterile and the source of light came from a circular embeddened white stones on the four sides of the wall. The woman was sitting just beside him on a metal stool. It looked like she was waiting for him to wake up himself.


    Aruthos was not sure whether it is morning or night; he had already lost track of time and he couldn''t see the a window anywhere in this preconceived underground area.


    Aruthos cleared his throat and asked restlessly in Belathinian language, "Am I a prisoner?"


    The woman kept quiet, pondered for a while, then sighed before answering in his mother tongue with a perfect accent, "Nope, you are not at the moment. As long as you answer several questions honestly that is."


    The response made Aruthos became more vigilant and clammed up tight.


    He suddenly jerked up and tried to grip the elder witch''s throat. However it was grasped by her hand instead. The Elder Witch''s eyes turned cold.


    "Where is the girl?!" He tried to release his hand and showed a threatening glare.


    Pasha scoffed off and clutched her fingers around the insolent Oni''s fingers in a vise grip. The Oni showed a pained expression as he heard his finger bones emitting cracking sounds. At least half of them had broken again.


    "Are you done?"


    He stared daggers towards the witch. He needed to save both Leila and Helen from this monster.


    [Is this lady a super spy hell-bent on his empire''s destruction?]


    Looking at Aruthos'' reaction, Pasha sighed, "Before you start thinking too much, listen first to this recording."


    Pasha played the recording of Roland''s evening lecture. She knew the Oni would understand the human language. She had seen the ring on the finger of this Oni. It was the limited-edition ring that came together with a set of 100 serialized picture books known as comics.


    Comics were popularized by His Highness at the early stage of the empire development with the help of an assistant witch, Soraya. All comics depicted the life story of a witch for propaganda to increase the empathy of the masses to them. The key witches became extremely popular as their life stories had been reprinted repeatedly.


    For an Oni who could painstakingly purchase internally circulated comics from other empire and wore the limited-edition ring proudly on his pinky despite his stature, he must be a die-hard fan of the comic series.


    Aruthos blushed when he saw Pasha staring at the ring. It was his deepest darkest secret, his guilty pleasure. No one knew, including his supplier, because he always camouflaged himself when he commissions for the underground delivery.


    Only Helen, the woman he was in love with knew since she was the one who connected him to his supplier.


    Since nobody else knew about the ring''s origin and significance, he dared to wear it out in the open.


    Pasha pretended not to notice his blushing and proceed with playing the record from her personal VIRCOF. She didn''t want to know other unnecessary issues from the Oni.


    As the recording played, Aruthos'' concentrated and listened intently. Through this, he might know what the other party wanted from their empire. Maybe he could strike a deal somehow to save both Helen and Leila.


    ...


    "Is this true?!" Pasha could see the stupid Oni was genuinely shaken by the revelations. All signs of resistance have disappeared.


    "Unfortunately, yes. This lecture was only four hours ago. Still very fresh. I''m here because I wish to investigate the current conditions of your empire since it was the largest empire in this region." Pasha replied patiently.


    "How about the girl and the beautiful lady beside you? I want to see them now. Only by seeing that they are well will this discussion continue." Aruthos repeated his request yet again; this time he withheld his temper. He knew he nearly played his card wrong again.


    Pasha push a button on her coms to call the two agents in.


    "Uncle Aruthos! Thank goodness you didn''t die!" A snotty Leila ran towards the bedridden high general and gave him a hug while whimpering. Aruthos let a relieved sigh and ruffled the little girl''s hair. He had treated this girl like his own kin after his sworn brother passed.


    His eyes trailed towards the beautiful demure figure behind Leila. Although his body was totally battered, his eyes shone lively when they met with the pair of almond-colored eyes he adored so much. Like a love-struck teenager, he stared brazenly towards the love of his life who had resisted his advances time and time again.


    "My sweet Helen! Are you alright?" He tried to hold the senior witch''s hand and was expertly avoided. Helen''s face was beet-red from the intense blushing. This guy had the gall to court her in front of her superior!


    The drama between the Oni and her senior agent was observed thoroughly by the Elder Witch.


    With a slight raise of an eyebrow, she knew there was a lot of stories between them, but she did not want to know.


    ...


    His eyes blinking with disbelief as Aruthos still couldn''t believe that the woman he fell in love with was a secret agent witch from the Witch Nation, Graycastle Empire. For 50 plus long years he knew her, she expertly covered her identity and only revealed herself as a wandering witch who assume the role of an underground trader.


    He had even hand over the only half-human half-Oni bastard-child of the late King to be raised because he trusted her. The child, Leila, only knew him as a benefactor.


    After a round of three-pronged explanation from his side, Helen''s side, and the Elder Witch Pasha''s side, he now had a clear picture of what was happening.


    After some deep thoughts, he made up his mind to put the survival of his race with the witches and humans. He quickly contacted his intelligence team to compile all current information and passed it over to Elder Witch Pasha.


    He sent another fearful glance towards the Elder Witch. Truly, ignorance is bliss!


    He felt like slapping himself for offending one of the strongest witches of the Graycastle Empire. Fortunately, the Elder Witch was noble enough not to pursue the matter before. Both of them knew the disaster at hand was more important.


    Series of discussions were done between them. As the discussion progressed, the passive Oni slowly regained his previous vigor. He could see the light at the end of the tunnel for his race.


    ....


    Earlier the next morning, the citizens of the empire had been shocked with the serial assassination of the main figures of the three factions scrambling for the empty monarchy''s throne.


    At the same time, the empire''s military which had kept mum all this time had took a drastic measure to launch a coup, effectively gaining control of the empire''s central power. Voice of dissents had been squashed ruthlessly by the highest ranking general, General Aruthos Krizathess of the Dragon Fang, by throwing them en masse into the dungeons without further discussion. Initially, everyone had assumed that the high general was going to fill the throne and take over the Oni nation.


    However, two hours after the coup d''etat, the high general had announced the enthronement of the previous emperor''s heir.


    Empress Leila de Krizathess the fifth.


    It shocked the nation again as it was the first time, a hybrid Oni had obtained the throne. It was even a woman.


    After wielding the highest power in the nation, the new empress issued the highest-level edict to call for an empire-wide meeting to make a mass power reshuffling. Non-attendees were not given a second say; they were sacked immediately, some were even killed.


    During the afternoon of the enthronement day of Empress Leila, she had made an announcement of building a diplomatic relationship with Graycastle. Experts from both side will be sent to and fro to tackle the current fire disasters happening in Belathine.


    The empress also circulated the latest information gained from the Graycastle Empire pertaining this issue internally especially for nobles in power who attended the meeting. After the initial fear and trepidation, most of the nobles sided with the empress for the sake of survival. Some remained unconvinced but too scared to voice out. After all, in country like Belathine, strength comes first.


    Pasha didn''t wait and left for Neverwinter during the empire-wide meeting in satisfaction. The high general stepped out to send her off with mixed feelings.


    She glanced at Helen for a short while and gave him a meaningful stare.


    "Times are limited. Treasure every second. Work hard."


    Aruthos''s serious expression were immediately lightened and then replaced with a fiery determination while Helen was blushing at his side.


    "Yes madam!" He saluted the Elder Witch following the Belathinian''s style.


    They watched as the Elder Witch ride the flying car and vanished from their sight as Aruthos tried to hold Helen''s hand again for the n-th time. To his surprise, for once, the Senior Witch let him and even proactively laced her fingers to him.


    He turned to observe the beautiful face; the love of his life was blushing intensely and refused to meet his eyes. His heart warmed.


    [The beatings were worth it.]


    He pulled her into his arms and gave her a gentle hug. It was full of unexplained years of longings.


    Both of them closed their eyes to savor each other''s embrace. They knew that although the future was not bright, at least at this exact moment, they have each other.

 16 Expedition Take-off

    "How did it turn out this way?" Grumbled Linneia while biting on her last piece of vacuum-packed honey glazed dried fish unhappily. The crown princess was in her rarely seen bad mood. Her mood turned a shade darker when she fished in her sleeve to get a new unsealed pack of the popular savory delicacy only to find that there was none left. In her anger, she had finish up all of them without realization.


    She was looking out of the side window of the top secret military high-speed bullet train unhappily. Their destination was the northernmost secret military outpost of the empire before they need to embark on an air-travel journey towards the extreme north. Although she was not happy, Linneia agreed in her heart that the flying car recently developed in their empire was still not as fast as the bullet train introduced by her ancestor centuries ago.


    Rasha noticed Linneia''s foul mood but shook her head slightly and sighed. Usually their princess was charismatic, very hardworking, with excellent interpersonal skills. She could mask her emotions well and placed forward priorities where it mattered most.


    She realized since the princess was in contact with the immortal king, her mood had been quite low; she had not managed to hide her negative emotions as good as usual.


    "I''m sure His Highness Roland knows what he was doing." Raksha try to coax Linneia awkwardly.


    She was a straightforward, hard headed woman. She was not used to cajoling people gently. Everything was settled with a single strict order from her. That''s why she chose the military rather than the politically drenched City-hall government officials.


    However, this time it was the crown princess, not her subordinates. She could only treat her as she treated her pampered little niece.


    Adjutant Solstis was sitting at her side, not commenting a single thing. He kept mum while raising an eyebrow slightly before resuming his stoic attitude. As the adjutant of Raksha, he only followed Raksha''s order and nothing else.


    Solstis pretended busy with the administration of the helpers joining their expedition in the other coaches by fiddling with his cerebral connector core seriously. They had brought along around thirty helpers consisted of exemplary researchers, soldiers and attendants in tow.


    Linneia was reminiscing back at the time after the immortal king''s grand public lecture when she had gotten an order from the immortal king to lead a long term expedition with General Raksha, Melati and little Frieda.


    They were briefed on the route and coordinates of the illusive intact ruin left by a long-lost civilization that was mentioned before the Grand Lecture. It turned out that the immortal king was not going to lead them there as he had delegated the job to the crown princess.


    The princess was fuming inside and leaked a little of her attitude as she tried to counter-negotiate her attendance; she really wanted to lead the Negative Particle Density Research Group. It was after all the groundbreaking research to date which will be used as the core to both other research groups.


    The Interstellar Gate Research Group was more like an expedition group rather than a real research group to her. Who knows if the ancient artifact spoken by her ancestor was still there after all this time and whether they can utilize it or not.


    Everybody was especially concerned when the immortal king finally divulged the exact coordinates of the ruin. It was so far away! In the Forbidden I-zone area to boot!


    Nobody even step foot in that area. The area was charted out by her ancestor king himself a long time ago and yet to be explored by anyone due to its harsh conditions.


    Immortal King Roland only needed to clear his throat sternly to remind Linneia that his words were final without uttering additional explanation. The sisters involved with the expedition were so scared, as General Raksha moved forward and touched Linneia''s shoulder to rouse her from continuing this folly.


    It was unwise to enrage an ancestor of the nation for selfish reasons.


    The immortal king gave an approving glance towards Raksha as all of them retired from the ancestor''s study.


    Later that night, the four witches settled their prior engagements and get ready to board the first high speed military train early next morning.


    "Princess Linneia, don''t be upset." Little Frieda who sat opposite her hand out a red translucent strawberry-shaped lolipop with a concern look adorning her cute childish face. She heard sweet things could make an upset person calm down.


    Beside her, Melati blinked a few times and gave a reassuring smile towards the princess. The gentle matured gaze made Linneia felt ashamed of herself.


    Linneia took the lolipop from the little loli with a resigned look. "You win. Thanks, little Frieda." She extended her hand forward and rubbed little Frieda''s head dotingly until she purred happily. She could never stay angry in front of this cute little babe.


    It must be harder on little Frieda as compared to her. She was still so green but had to join the expedition too. She even took the initiative to sooth her with her favorite sweets.


    Linneia reflected on herself at that moment.


    She''s too full of herself as of late. She needed to adjust her attitude to lead the expedition successfully. The survival of her countrymen or even the whole planet might hinge on the success of this expedition.


    As she popped the lolipop into her mouth, she took out the Cerebral Connector''s core from the back of her neck with her skeletal steel glove and placed it on the table in between her and the two witches in front of her.


    Together, the group of six sitting facing each other viewed the routes charted out by the immortal king on the Linneia''s cerebral connector''s 3D map and discussed the minute details of their journey seriously. Everyone then took out their own core as Linneia swiped her own 3D map to merge with the other standard maps of the others. The action made all the maps refreshed with the new inputted information.


    ...


    Beside Melati, Professor Rogers nodded his head approvingly as he received his updated 3D map.


    The current Dean of the Neverwinter Royal College had long snow-white hair which was tied neatly into a low ponytail. He was not like his retired best friend, Professor Newton, who intently wanted to join the other two research groups. He was a man of adventure and had conquered many snowy mountains to find unique samples for research purposes.


    This time, he joined this group as the head of the other researchers. Their main tasks were to counsel the witches in their research and help as much as they could. Even the immortal king had eagerly approved of him. Old experienced hands were crucial in a green team like this.


    Although these ladies had some attitude, they did possess the quality of an exemplary citizen of the empire. Knowing their mistakes, they didn''t shy away and corrected their ways immediately.


    Professor Rogers was deeply moved as his gaze fall on his ex-studentsucking intently on her newly acquired lollipop while discussing with the others.


    As a seasoned scientist, he understood the immortal king''s arrangement well. It was clear as day that the ancestor of the empire wanted to groom the crown princess into a more matured, well-rounded future leader.


    With the uncertain future in front of them, a strong leader with high intellect, strength and character was imperative. The Crown Princess was lacking just a little bit due to prolong peace and harmony in the empire. That was why she needed to be ''reforged'' with a couple of tribulations to make her matured faster.


    ....


    Two days later, they finally reached the furthest military outpost connected by the railroad, Lesterchild''s Military Camp.


    As the team disembarked from the train, they were given two hours rest at the base before directly ushered into the Vulture III, the most advanced aircraft equipped with the latest Vertical Take-Off & Landing (VTOL) technology. The Vulture was a medium capacity transportation aircraft specialized in speed and stability which made it the ideal flying vehicle for exploring naturally complicated regions.


    Additional military personnel from the camp had joined their team resulting the headcount to reach 100 pax.


    As the Vulture III was further restocked with fuel, rations and miscellaneous research items, the Interstellar Gate Research team joined the mission briefing meeting with the head of the military camp.


    Seeing the participants of the expedition team consisted of snow-white haired grandfatherly old men, demure looking maidens and young girls, the camp leader became extremely worried but did not say anything as this was the decision of the top management. Furthermore, when he saw the crown princess and General Raksha, he knew who they were and didn''t dare to offend them unnecessarily.


    Linneia briefed the team on the objective of the expedition and her role as the expedition leader which made the newly joined military personnel gasped in surprised!


    This was then followed by a location-specific briefing on the I-zone restricted area''s hazards, personally delivered by the skeptical camp leader to make them understand the graveness of their intended destination. The expedition had been labeled as SS-ranked; the highest difficulty assessed by the higher ups so far. The face of everyone was turning blue when they heard on the anticipated dangers. However, their patriotic heart managed to overcome it. They believed that if the mission required the princess to personally lead it, it must be the utmost importance to their empire.


    Thirty minutes later, Vulture III take off without any issues accompanied by the soldiers'' salutations. They knew it carried the team who might as well save the people from the incoming peril not too far ahead. They knew that it might be the only chance for their salvation.


    Once the aircraft disappear from the horizon, everyone started busying themselves. They too had heard the immortal king''s lecture''s recording and knew what they should do to contribute.


    ....

 17 An Endearing Memory

    "How was your day?" Roland greeted his tired-looking wife as he stood up and approach her from behind his desk.


    Anna had entered his study as soon as the younger generation went out. She had heard everything from outside.


    She went forward and gave her beloved a brief gentle hug.


    "It''s getting worse. Just today, the number of forest fires were doubled from last week." She answered exhaustedly. "However, the ladies were exceptional. Firefighting had never been easier. We just need to handle the larger hard-to-control ones. The smaller ones were taken care by our own proactive citizen firefighter squad." Anna was touched by everyone''s cooperation.


    "Thank you. It must''ve been hard on you."


    Anna responded with a gentle smile and shook her head lightly. Her beautiful flowing flaxen hair loosened a little like strands of silk billowing by the wind. She didn''t tie up her hair and let it loose because she knew her beloved loved it this way.


    Roland unconsciously extended his fingers and tucked the lose strands behind her left ear lovingly. Every time he looked into that pair of clear light blue eyes, he kept on falling in love with them again and again.


    "I need to go somewhere. Accompany me?" Roland whispered in her ear after a moment of pause.


    Anna nodded.


    As they laced their fingers together, they walked out side by side from the study.


    ....


    In the Royal Neverwinter Cemetery for Martyrs, Roland and Anna were standing before a spacious tomb while holding hands. On his other hand, he was holding a large bouquet of beautiful luminescent pale pink roses with packet of honeyed dried fish strip.


    The silent night was especially serene as the full moon hung low with twinkling of stars adorning the purplish black carpet.


    The tomb was large, beautiful and tidy. A bench was erected opposite the tomb. However, everyone visiting the grave had never dared to sit on it. It was a silent rule that the bench was especially made for the immortal king for when he visited the grave.


    Nightingale. Veronica Gilen.1318 - 1354. Legendary Valkryie of Neverwinter.


    He knew Nightingale''s body must''ve turned to dust by now. However, his feelings for her was still there, turning into warm, endearing memories. He knew that Anna knew it too. Both of them had come to peace with it.


    Nightingale had been beside him as he claimed the throne as the King of Graycastle. She persisted beside him when he chose Anna to be the Queen of Graycastle albeit staying with a broken heart. She was there protecting him when the war of Divine Will occurred. She''s still beside him when he became the Emperor of the new Graycastle Empire, although she refused to appear in front of him anymore.


    At that time, Roland had seriously considered taking her as his royal paramour. She had sacrificed long enough for him. Even Anna consented with his decision a long time ago.


    However, before it could happen, Nightingale sacrificed her body to save the only child of Roland and Anna. Anna and the baby were dying at that time due to some error from the artificial insemination process during the last growth phase.


    The baby was grown ex-situ (1) but needed a huge amount of magical energy to sustain its growth. The method was jointly developed by Roland himself with the help of Agatha and Celine; a combination of science and magic. However, reality was a cruel thing. The price was more than what Roland could anticipate, as Anna''s magic capacity was one of the highest among the witches. He never knew it won''t be enough to support a tiny little babe.


    The accident happened when Roland was not there. A power outrage pulled him away for a short moment, as Anna struggled to sustain the life of the growing baby in the artificial pond. Anna gave away almost all her powers. When Nightingale realized this, she poured in her own power into Anna''s body with the help of Marquess Passi until she perished. It also nearly took the life of the marquess.


    Roland arrived a step too late.


    He could only salvage her soul and placed it inside his domain.


    Contrary to Roland guilt and sadness, Nightingale was the happiest when she spent her time inside of Roland''s world.


    Roland kept on trying to construct a suitable artificial body for Nightingale but to no avail. Nightingale''s soul couldn''t adhere to the new vessel every single time. He silently suspected that Nightingale herself choose not to leave his world.


    A few hundred years later, her consciousness slowly dissipated within his world. However, she let go with a smile on her face, with a ''Thank you'' parting them.


    Roland had never been able to forgive himself for this. It was the only time he attempted the child bearing experiment. The danger was too large. It reminded him of the God Judgement Army, but with a heavier price.


    Over the years, the child grew up well. Anna had always said; the child was hers and Nightingale''s. Silvie had also confirmed the existence of both Anna and Nightingale''s magical signature on the princess.


    The matured princess had grown into an exemplary witch and married worthy Neverwinter citizen. Later on, to the couple''s surprise, she conceived a single descendant. It continued down until today.


    When the government officials knew their King''s descendant could pass the throne down, they adamantly rejected the immortal king''s preparation to make the empire a democratic nation. For once, the citizens, officials and even the oppositions were united until Roland had no choice but to relent.


    "You should let her go." Anna whispered.


    Roland sighed deeply.


    "Look at Linneia. She is such a headstrong girl. Don''t you think she resembles Nightingale a lot?" Anna added while smiling.


    Roland''s cloudy expression lightened.


    After a few minutes of silence, he said, "I can see the similarities. That is why I like to tease her so much." Roland chuckled lightly.


    They lightly kissed.


    "Let''s visit the rest of the sisters tomorrow." Anna leaned her head on Roland''s shoulder.


    "Sure."


    ....


    Author''s note:


    (1) Ex-situ: outside (the opposite of insitu, inside). So when a baby was grown in a mother''s womb, it is considered in-situ, which is inside of its natural location. Ex-situ might means a glass vessel, an artificial growth pod, etcs.

 18 Elder Witch Celine Part 1

    "Where is Celine?" Roland inquired to the two Elder Witches appearing in front of him. He had waited for a few minutes for the third apparition to appear, but nothing happened.


    Looking at the pale faces of the two remaining Elder Witches, he felt a lump in his throat.


    "Is Celine alright?"


    Pasha took the initiative to answer their liege''s query, "She was currently being reported as MIA by the agent responsible in monitoring the unrest in the investigated region."


    "Tell me everything you know right now." Roland read up the report inputted into his personal VIRCOF seriously while waiting for either Pasha or Alethea to brief him about the current affairs.


    Pasha reported about the worldwide VIRCOF meeting for gathering intelligence to narrow down the investigation range to Roland. She had also included the destination of each Elder Witch and the 48 hours investigation time imposed on each Elder Witch.


    Roland nodded in approval with their arrangements. He knew, travelling around the planet personally will take a lot of time, hence he never would''ve thought that the Witch Intelligence Agency (WIA) could obtain results within 72 hours. He had actually allocated them with one to two weeks.


    However, the disappearance of Celine worried Roland incessantly. The reports from the local agent suggested the banding of the Dark Elves with the remnants of the Demon race, their mortal enemy, although only at trade-level.


    Alethea had completed her mission the earliest and had returned to the Sanctuary first. Noticing that Celine did not respond to her message and call, she then deployed the Special Ops Team members nearest to the Dark Elves'' war-torned underground kingdom as soon as possible.


    Roland tapped his finger unconsciously while thinking on how to deal with this situation but to no avail. What was done by Alethea was what he would do too. He needed more information before moving to the next part.


    All of them could only wait for the agents involved in the search-and-rescue mission inside the maze-like underground network to report back before they could do anything.


    ....


    Selena swept her sweat stricken brow with her left hand while panting exhaustedly. She didn''t dare to use her good right hand as it was holding the high frequency dagger. It was dripping with the blood of Gigantic Sonic Bats, the sentinels of the underground caves.


    This was already the sixth wave. The ferocious bats were equipped with razor sharp wings and sonic wave attacks. What was worse, their cunningness made them hard to deal with as they prefer sneak attacks. Although none of her subordinates were gravely injured, they were not light enough to be brushed off just like that. She could feel the enemy was chipping off their stamina progressively. Alarm bells were ringing in her mind issuing warnings.


    She made series of hand gestures to her subordinates as they moved towards the left tunnel. The covert luminescent sign she wrote on the right side wall previously had shown that they had circled back again to the same location.


    Everybody was extremely exhausted; although they had only entered the Dark Elves'' underground network for five hours, they have been sieged non-stop by groups of Dark Elves and their sentinels. Bullets were inefficient in these cramp dark spaces, hence they needed to use the manual way; wielding their good ol''daggers and knives. Fortunately, their knives were extremely effective.


    After a while, the combat witches entered a wide well-lit cavern. The space had shown signs of being artificially widened. Manmade structures resembling a wall with a large five meter high closed door made from polished marble-like materials stood in front of them, stopping them from moving forward. The assumed door has no handle or mechanism whatsoever. It seemed that they had finally neared the center of the underground labyrinth.


    "How shall we proceed from here, Chief?" A brunette curly haired woman with a crossed scar on her cheek asked Selena. She was suspicious with the fact that no guards were protecting the important-looking door.


    "We pushed hard. This is a time-sensitive mission. Every second we delay, we jeopardize Madam Celine''s life. I''m ninety nine percent sure she must be on the other side of this door.


    "What about that one percent?" She grinned while asking back. Several others were even chuckling slightly.


    "It''s probably a trap. Either with Madam Celine or without, the enemy will surely be there just waiting for us. Get ready. We must save Madam Celine! We must sacrifice our life if necessary. Glory to Neverwinter!"


    Every membered echoed out the mantra three times to hype themselves up while thrusting their fists with weapons upwards.


    Selena observed everyone''s face which were full of determination. Loyalty and the will to sacrifice themselves were evident on their beautiful yet weary faces. To die in exchange for the survival of one of the most important witches in their organization was highly honorable.


    The demolition expert, a ponytailed sweet-looking woman came forward and attached a black circular box the size of a palm at the center of the wall, exactly at the middle of the door-like structure. Although it looked shabby, it was actually one of the most popular bombs in the Sanctuary, the Kinetic Bomb.


    The Kinetic Bomb was dubbed as the most efficient and ''clean'' bom-like material in the WIA arsenal using the implosion method at the molecular level. She then took an antenna-like needle and pricked at differing locations on the wall after performing some calculations.


    Five minutes was what it took to disintegrate the wall. The disintegration started at the core location where the black disc was embeddened. The kinetic waves travelled through the wall surface in the shape of cracks originated at the disc and ended at the needle points. A few seconds after the cracks appeared, the sturdy marble-like wall turned to dust.


    Selena squinted her sky blue eyes to reduce the chances for dusts disrupting her vision, but adamantly didn''t close them. She knew the real fight was here.


    True to Selena''s prediction, rows after rows of ferocious looking creatures occupied an extremely large space just behind the disintegrated wall. All of them showed a semblance of intelligence as they were poised to attack in an orderly manner. The only positive point she could make out were the familiar figure of their seriously injured Witch Elder being sieged by a group of strong-looking Dark Elves far in the distance.


    "Move now! Assault Formation ten!"


    Selena jumped into the fray followed by many of her loyal subordinates as vanguards, brandishing their high frequency blades and guns. They immediately entered an optimized attacking formation before started on their rampage in the bid to reach their Elder Witch in time.


    ....


    Polka bit her plump cherry lips until it bleed while continuously tapping in midair; the bluish holographic numbers and words came and go so fast; others didn''t even manage to catch what was written. She haphazardly inserted a microliter of grounded flesh from the sentinels caught one after another into a port just below the holographic panel with practiced hands. At that moment, there was already 26 differing samples from each ferocious beast being processed at lightning speed.


    She counted from the corner of her eyes. [Three more, just three more, please let me make it in time!]


    She saw four of her comrades being killed in action as her chest soured. The corner of her eyes leaked grieving tears. The last one was her bestie.


    Polka was being surrounded by her remaining comrades; others had move forward to withstand the horrendous siege by the never-ending ferocious beasts. They protected her from being injured by stray bullets and random beasts who entered their range while she was activating the Annihilator 6.2.


    As the most competent demolition expert in WIA, she was one of the only five witches who was able to activate the complex device. The activation procedures were so demanding as it needed to fit stringent criteria before it could be operated, hence became the most unpopular device among the agents although it was very powerful.


    The techno-geek Polka could only enter the high profiled Special Ops Team led by Senior Witch Selena based on her ability in operating the complex device.


    The Annihilator series could eradicate en masse in a certain radius selectively, as it was being modeled after the Instrument of Divine Retribution from the old empire-building era. Polka was the only one who loved the device the most, as it was actually developed and innovated by her idol, Elder Witch Celine. Polka was also the one who revised the device into its current version.


    She sweated a lot from being high-strung but didn''t even realized it. Her fair dexterous fingers were so fast as they blurred while she adjusted the parameters needed to activate the floating hexagonal metallic device suspended behind the holographic data panel. She knew they were fighting against time. Every second of delay might cost the lives of her team members.


    She signaled four of her protectors. They injected four tubes of glowing translucent green solution into four ports simultaneously.


    Her tappings stopped suddenly as the hexagonal device moved upwards and automatically opened up from the center like a flower spilling white blinding light!


    Polka''s vision was blocked out totally. She smirked with satisfaction while tears streamed from her eyes. It was too late for her poor bestie, but she can still save Madam Celine.


    Every single ferocious beast touched by the blinding white light disintegrated into smithereens, leaving only blackish particles. Right now, there was only a group of Dark Elves present. All the witches present moved their target to them as they move forward towards their adversary.


    Polka, together with her other protectors brandished their weapon and joined the vanguard team.


    "Glory to Neverwinter!" They shouted as they intercepted the last attack on Elder Witch Celine and stormed the Dark Elves group with everything they had.

 19 Elder Witch Celine Part 2

    [I must tell Roland! This information is extremely important for our survival!] Celine gritted her teeth hard while parrying the assault of a dark elves with a hilt from her broken dagger.


    She couldn''t feel her left leg anymore as it lay limp on the side. It has been stabbed so deep from a momentary of carelessness while she was on the run to avoid the persistent hunt by the underground dwellers. The wound was so severe as she was losing blood fast. It did not help when the wound was black, contaminated with the Dark Elves poison magic.


    She didn''t even have the time to staunch the injury to stop the bleeding as she was continuously being attacked on all fronts by the wretched dark elves.


    As she kept on dodging the attacks, she needed to drag the limp useless leg to move about. It prevented her from performing at her best.


    Looking at the debris of what had remain from the Recombinant suit series only made her smile bitterly with mixed feelings. If it was not there, she would''ve died there and then; the lost felt like she is losing one of her daughters.


    They had used a very powerful magic bombardment attacks on her poor suit for two days and two nights while pursuing her everywhere in the underground network. Everytime a number of magic spell casters were exhausted, another team replaced them. It continued again and again without a moment''s reprieve. It felt like the magic power reservoir they had was endless.The cramp space reduced her ability to maneuver greatly, making her Recombinant suit to take all the damage directly without any time to recover.


    Celine regretted underestimating the dark elves. She had forgotten that although they are not strong individually, they are ruthless and would do anything to win. Furthermore, she was a bit too rusty to be sneaking around in the cramp tunnels. She had stayed her hands from doing field work for a long time, only concentrating on research with His Majesty Roland. His profound ideas always made both of them so excited that they even at one time stay in the laboratory for decades researching on new inventions.


    Celine knew she was nearly out of options.


    Suddenly she smiled as she channeled all her remaining magic power into her right gauntlet for the last time. She even burned half the energy of her soul to increase the lethality of her attack. She was burning with hope as she had seen a team of witches coming! She calculated that the inertia will push her away from her assailants and gave her some opportunity to rendezvous with the group of witches.


    She slammed her right fist activated with wind magic on a masked two-meter tall robed humanoid figure with all she got when all of them were temporarily blinded by the white light from the Annihilator device. The humanoid figure was the only different entity as compared to the lean and tall dark elves; it was stronger and more martial savvy. She detected that he was the one whom was the strongest and dangerous among them all.


    Being blinded and sucker punched, the masked humanoid was pushed back a few meters with several of the dark elves in tow. The mask covering its face cracked revealing a hideous looking feature, resembling a High Demon!


    Celine surprised with the revelation. I should have known that the demon was behind this! She seethed with anger.


    The demon was heavily injured but was not incapacitated. The high demon roared with anger as he rushed towards her. Her light round shield she haphazardly conjured with the final bit of her soul power broke to pieces as she defended against the high lethal strike. The strike also pushed her down to the ground, making her defenseless. As the high demon tried to give her a fatal final strike to end her, her blurry vision caught the sight of somebody intercepting the strike and simultaneously pushed the demon and elves away.


    Glory to the Neverwinter¡­That was the last sound she heard before she finally lost consciousness due to blood lost and energy deficit.


    ...


    Alethea and Pasha observed their comrade inside the life support vessel worriedly. The wounds on Celine''s body was too severe. A lot of her internal organs were beginning to fail.


    "Her body is not as bad as it looks." Roland explained out of concern to the two witches while wiping his hands with disinfectant.


    He had been the one to personally attend to Celine when the Special Ops Team returned bringing her mangled body with them. The only surviving members of theteam that is. It was led by a sweet-looking ponytailed girl with red eyes; it seemed that she had been crying for a long time.


    Roland had noticed she was the genius girl who tailed after Celine everywhere she went before like a duckling. The rescue mission had incurred heavy losses; only less than 10 people returned to the Sanctuary 3.


    He continued, " As long as she still had a single breath left, there''s nothing that can''t be healed by this device except death." He patted the oblong Life Support Pod where the grievously injured Celine was situated. "Even if the body deteriorates beyond repair, we can still provide her with a new custom made vessel." Roland said matter-of-factly.


    "The biggest concern was the injury towards her soul. She had overdrawn her soul''s energy thus the transfer couldn''t be done because she was currently too weak. " Roland went beside the life pod and tapped at the touch screen to check the vitals of Celine.


    Pasha and Alethea were stricken with sadness as they already know the fact even without Roland explaining it. "What can we do to accelerate the healing of her soul?" Alethea asked.


    " As all of you know, we''re still baby steps in soul-technology. Injury to the soul had no remedy currently. We can only let it heal naturally with time. What we can do is to make sure her body was healthy enough so that it could support nourishing her soul." Roland was also helpless with Celine''s conditions.


    After making sure all the parameters shown on the touch screen were right, Roland gestured the other two Elder Witches to walk with him to a small lounge area outside the medic room. A group of witches took over and strictly monitor Celine''s conditions.


    ....


    "What do you think about the information recorded?" Roland asked Pasha and Alethea after all of them watched the recorded images made by Celine using her personal VIRCOF.


    "It looked like the Demon Clan might have a lead with another Interstellar Gate travel but not necessarily the one that was mentioned by your Highness. It seems that they planned to hog the info to themselves. From the intelligence gathered by Celine, it must have something to do with the mineral found inside the Dark Elves territory." Pasha said seriously.


    "Spot-on. We needed more information on this. It might be the solution that we needed all along. First, we must send more people to collect more mineral to study and second, we must establish communication with the demon race. They must have found something important related to the interstellar gates. As we are pressed for time, it would be better if we could share our research so we could complete the research in time. As for the grudges and hatred, maybe it is time to let it go. It has been too long already. Their race was nearly extinct after the Divine War and probably it is time we reconciled upon our common goal." Roland explained his stand.


    Both of the Elder Witches didn''t agree with Roland''s idea but didn''t comment on it. They had gone through too many deaths after deaths of family and friends to put aside their hatred easily. However, they know that the utmost priority is for the entire human race to survive.


    Roland squeezed the unidentified thumb-sized dark mineral in his palm. Bless Celine, she even had gotten the sample of the mineral in question. He planned to send the mineral to the Negative Density Particle Research Group later.


    Something Celine took in exchange for this level of injury must be an important piece of mystery he had yet to unravel.


    Little that he knew that the mineral is the key to their survival.

 20 The Start of a Negotiation

    Few hours after the discussion, Roland, Alethea and Pasha gathered inside a secret room in Sanctuary 3 to send off Alethea to space in her astral form. The room was customized by Celine to convert the Elder Witches into their Astral Form and provide neverending magic with mental energy to support prolonged projection. It was also off-limit from anyone else. To date, they had only used it within the planet itself but theoretically, Celine has calculated that the energy was enough for the journey after pulling 80% of the Graycastle reserve energy.


    It was a risk they need to take; it was decided that they needed to start on the scouting as soon as possible. Knowing the enemy first will ensure a higher probability of success in anything they do later.


    In the earlier plan, both Elder Witches should be going together while being monitored by Celine at the headquarters. However, due to recent circumstances, Pasha instead volunteered for the mission to link with the Demonic Clan while Celine was still in a coma. She knew if they send Alethea over, it will easily turn from diplomacy discussion into another war. They couldn''t afford to waste time and resources since they now knew the truth. Roland knew that although Pasha also hated the Demons to the bone, she was rational enough to choose priority as proven when she decided to join Roland in the first place.


    As the only person with no combat capabilities, Roland responsibilities will be monitoring both Alethea, and Celine at Sanctuary 3.


    "I''m going, Your Highness, Lady Pasha." Alethea curtsied elegantly to both of them.


    "Remember, do not engage with anything you found. Immediately return and report." Roland and Pasha worriedly reminded Alethea again.


    "Stop nagging, you both. I know what I should do. Make sure you both take care of Celine for me." Alethea replied grimly as she vanished into tiny particles.However, Pasha and Roland did not notice a strange determined glint in her eyes. She knew the 3000 years of peace may end at any moment. The time which will make her to be able to prove herself will soon come.


    ...


    "Done with your preparations?" Roland asked the last Elder Witch in his workroom in Sanctuary 3. The spacious workroom in Sanctuary 3 was vastly different from his office in Neverwinter with a desk and French windows. This one was full of advanced partially finished gadgets and random parts. Technological staff dressed in white workclothes were scurrying around performing their own tasks.


    Roland had merged both his staff with Celine''s since she was in a coma. He had taken over the management of her lab too for the time being to make sure any work in progress was not affected too much without her presence.


    "Yes, Your Highness." Pasha was gallantly geared up with her dashing newly serviced and calibrated Recombinant Suit while checking on the disc attached to her gauntlets. The hoverboard was levitating beside her.


    Roland came forward and made a final inspection on the suit. He paid close attention on the epaulets and the translucent cape covering Pasha''s back. He nodded in satisfaction.


    "I have adjusted and addressed the issues with the twin soul epaulets based on your report. The disc has also been upgraded with an increase in stability. It means a higher conversion ratio from the magic source you inputted into the magic powers used. I estimate the efficiency increased by 15% compared to earlier." Roland explained with a calm smile.


    Pasha was inwardly surprised as she knew that Celine has done her best before. Once again Roland has showed her his prowess in innovating new technology. Higher efficiency meant stronger magic power achieved with minimal energy exerted.


    Roland walked back and opened a drawer. He handed Pasha a rolled up letter with his personal royal stamp.


    "Seriously? A written letter?" Pasha was incredulous. It had been a long time she had not seen a physically written letter. Everything had been made easy with the invention of the VIRCOF system.


    Roland chuckled, "I''ve also recorded a video and had sent it over to your personal VIRCOF. The problem is, the Demons viewed us as their enemy for far too long. So we haven''t establish any sort of communication with them. Another thing is, we do not know how advance they are currently. Without a suitable device to receive the video, they won''t take the chance to believe you."


    "To let them see the video, you need to be near them. Will they let you go near considering that they viewed you as a threat to their leader?" Roland explained patiently.


    "The letter was written on a special alloy material which are virtually indestructible. So, as long as you deliver the letter to the highest in command, the leader will certainly will be able to read the letter and decide if a meeting can take place."


    Pasha kept the letter inside a compartment on her hoverboard. Without saying anything more, she bid Roland goodbye.


    She believed in Roland''s foresight. Many occasions had proven his decision to be the right one.


    She had plan well on what to do. Right now, she needed to retrace back the demon''s whereabouts from the Dark Elves underground network. From there, she would need to get to their settlements and proceed with finding a way to get an audience with the Demonic Clan Leader.


    ...


    Roland watched Pasha go with a worried heart. However, his expression remained the same.


    [Should I go too?] He wondered.


    The enmity between both species was deeply rooted. Although newer generations might have a lighter view, Pasha herself was involved with the third and fourth war. He truly hoped that the highly competent Elder Witch could come to terms with her past and opened herself to let go of the prolonged enmity. Both species had suffered too much because of the war.


    He walked towards the medic room and checked on Celine inside the life pod. The vital readings were getting better, but at a snail''s pace. Roland was glad. He reminded the staff to maintain an all-time alert on the Elder Witch''s condition.


    Since the WIA''s very own technological chief staff was out of commission, he needed to hold the reins for the time being and utilized the budding potentials of Neverwinter to their fullest.


    He also went daily to the secret room to do a quick check on Alethea''s vital to ensure she had sufficient energy and her vitals were okay. No communication were available as the technological advancement were not sufficient at this moment. He could only postulated Alethea''s condition through her vital readings and energy consumption.


    ....


    Tralish Zod was heavily injured and was unable to return to the Demonic Settlement. The undergound kingdom of the Dark Elves were devastated with the attacks from just a small number of witches. From that he knew that the spying witch who was nearly caught by them must be someone important. It has been less than two days since the manhunt, but help had come too soon.


    He regretted not catching the witch. At least he should''ve killed her. What aggravated him the most was the fact that the witch had manage to snitch a precious mineral mined from the Dark Elves'' lowest underground sacred land. He had paid a hefty price for that. Not to say that it was over-valued, but the amount of the mineral mined was very little. There was simply not enough. He had been tasked by his own father, one of the nine Emperors, to get a certain amount. For that small amount, he had stayed there for more than two months.


    Tralish was upset with the dark elves too. Once he was incapacitated, their attitude towards him had turned from accommodating to downright insulting. They had only provided a very basic dark room with a flat stone to be served as a bed. A faint light was provided after his raging insistence. No attendant even dropped by to help him with daily needs. He even had to pay a boy to deliver water to him once a day.


    However, he knew they didn''t dare do anything to him. They knew he was an important ambassador from his clan who paid for their war with their counterpart, the wretched elves. If they knew that he was actually a prince, most probably they will not be brave enough to treat him like this as he burned inside with their insolence. He also knew the reason they did not have time for him because right now was an important juncture for the Dark Elves as the balance was finally tipping to their favor.


    Tralish could only wait for his injury to slowly recovered. Fortunately he had a special salve given to his father prior to his journeying to the dark elven''s territory. The salve was very effective. He knew, for his clan, it must be very expensive. With this kind of recovery rate, he calculated that he needed at least another two weeks before he could journey back. The mining did not stop. By that time, the required amount of the mineral will be met.


    Tralish closed his eyes to calm himself.


    "How long are you going to wait? Aren''t you going to end me?" He asked while closing his eyes.


    At the darkest shadowed corner of a room, a shimmering appeared. A human woman in armor appeared.


    "How long have you noticed?" The woman inquired.


    "From three days ago. At the beginning, I thought I was hallucinating." Tralish had an inkling of a foreign presence in his room since three days ago. He had been ready ever since and waited. But the other party wasn''t taking any action. He was too injured to make any large movement.


    The woman walked cautiously towards Tralish and stood three meters from where he lied down cautiously with folded arms.


    "I have a message for your leader. Bring me to him." She spoke in a cold tone. She had a very weird ancient accent. Tralish was having a hard time understanding her words.


    "Can you see that I can''t move?" Tralish replied with a sarcastic tone while turning his head to look at the woman. [It''s not the same. Did the other witch died?] He felt quite satisfied thinking about it.


    "Since you can''t move, let''s have a nice long chat. We have a lot of time to spend together."


    Not knowing why, the sentence from the witch made Tralish shivered down to his spine. He knew by instinct that his life will no longer be his.

 21 Two Years’ Worth of Effort Part 1

    Newton wiped the tears of happiness gathering at the corner of his eyes amidst the cheering of people. His aged face looked twenty years younger with the blooming smile decorating his sagely demeanor. It has been two hard years for all of them; no one ever slept properly.


    The newly developed Sigil which was modified from Sigil of Weightlessness and Sigil of Gravity was now known as Antimatter Core. They had finally managed to stabilize the anti-baryonic material enough to be used as a ring around the model in the lab scaled study with the assistance of Miss Rosetta and Miss Desaree. Finally, after the n-th time, the pilot scale study was a pass with significant values!


    It turns out, these two ladies were the most important keys for stabilizing the core permanently all along. They functioned like stabilizers to the core. Yet, he needed to acknowledge that he barely touched the surface and he had not fully understood the principles behind their powers.


    He watched as the revised Antimatter core being fitted into the faster-than-light (FTL) Warp Drive he co-designed with Major Anya, the mechanical mind genius from the elite First Army Regiment. With the completion of the Antimatter core, the Negative Particle Density Research Group was then merged with the Spaceship Construction Research Group.


    As he watched, Newton still remembered how they suffered during the initial step of formulating the equations. He had worked day and night to formulate a series of equations, but he still couldn''t solve a few important parameters. At that point, Crown Princess Linneia approached him via Major Anya''s Cerebral Connector with a revolutionary solution.


    Newton was really impressed with the crown princess. With the explanation from the Immortal King and the initial deductions generated by the three biocomputer witches, the crown princess had managed to establish the initial algorithm that conformed with the faster-than-light travel theory while she was busy travelling to the extreme North. All communication was done through the Cerebral Connector Network interface. Listening to the crown princess retelling her experiences in short succinct sentences, he knew she had gone through a lot more than what was being spoken, and yet she still managed to help with the deductions in her free time. He could only feel grateful for their monarchy for producing such a competent heiress.


    Nobody knew that Princess Linneia would still gave a helping hand from afar. They thought that she only held the Director post of the Negative Particle Density Group in name only. It turned out she was serious in multitasking.


    With the help of Princess Linneia, Newton theoretical algorithm was completed. This stemmed the first FTL Warp Drive design by Major Anya which managed to achieve a theoretical value of 1.5 speed-of-light (SOL).


    With this theoretical model, Newton had determined that there was a high possibility to improve them further. Hence, they had refined the series of calculations repeatedly with the help of a large number of experts led by himself. This become a cycle until Newton and his team improved the calculation and readjusted the design slightly with which resulted into an engine with a theoretical value of 3.8 SOL.


    It was a major breakthrough. Newton still felt exceedingly proud of this achievement in the field of space science. They had basically moved from zero to this level.


    From there, Major Anya worked industriously with a number of engineers to achieve the initial success on the physical model for the engine design earlier than expected.


    They took three months to perfect the design and calculations needed for the FTL engine before proceeding to physical model building. After all, to realize a theory into something tangible was no easy matter. Many things needed to be done as the series of the equations themselves needed to be thoroughly polished to flush out as much error as possible.


    The testing of the model took a longer time but was finally able to be validated after nine months of testing. This was considered extremely fast as compared to any other large-scale innovation or invention pushed forward by the government previously. The involvement of 80% of the human asset has pushed this further ahead while the other 15% were focused on the design and building of the nation-wide bunker. The last 5% followed the crown princess in the exploration.


    Basically, everyone in the empire was moved to reach this goal. Nobody was left behind.


    At the same time, the Antimatter Core research developed by the Negative Particle Density Group was progressing almost at the same pace as the FTL Engine. Nevertheless, as the Antimatter Core needed an utmost precision method for it to be able to function, the initial part of the experiment was not so smooth. The unstable core kept on collapsing upon itself as it destabilized resulting in a serious explosion. A lot of researchers were injured in that incident. After taking a number of safety measures, the core had been tested again and again with multiple explosions accompanying each failure. Although no more researchers were hurt, their spirit were at an all-time low.


    Three hundred and seventy nine. That was the number of explosions occurring in the isolated heavily re-enforced testing room for the model testing the efficacy of the negative density theory. The presence of Lady Vayu made the high number of testing possible. She had adjusted the environmental conditions inside the testing room to reduce the strength of the explosions each time. Her ability to produce, blend, remove, and remix gaseous compound was astounding.


    Finally, after fourteen months their first prototype fitted with the latest version of the FTL Warp Drive with the Antimatter Core was a success!


    The prototype was a partially finished Dreadnought with a modified FTL engine. They have tested the functionality and stability and decided for a proper test run to space in a week''s time for data collection.


    "Thank you everyone for your hardwork! But don''t be lax too soon. The final testing phase is about to begin in a week''s time. To the personnel involved, go back, relax, unwind, and return with renewed energy." Newton spoke gently from the leading seat in a large conference room. Nonetheless, everyone present could hear his words clearly. Everyone was in a jubilant mood.


    The old professor stood up from his armchair to adjourn the meeting. By his side, Major Anya took his arm and supported him gently.


    "You need ample rest too, Professor. Please be at ease. I can take over the matters from here." Anya coaxed the old professor worriedly.


    The two years of hardwork had taken a significant toll on the old professor. Although his eyes were bright with wisdom, his limbs were getting stiffer and his joints ached uncontrollably on each passing day. He had collapsed two times from over exhaustion as he forgot to partake his meal and rest while being entranced with new formulas and findings. The second time had led the rest of the researchers to petition him to work at a maximum of six hours before a forced resting time. He was exasperated with their intervention but could only follow through for his own health condition.


    Newton patted the hand supporting him with a smile, "I''m alright, child. I won''t go under so soon. There is so many things to do. What I regret the most is not being able to find the function of the black mineral delivered by the His Highness Immortal King. I will go back to have some rest before working on it again."


    When Newton saw the girl trying to argue with him, he patted her hand again reassuringly. "It''s okay. I know we have so many researchers working on it, but this is my passion. If I can''t find the answer, I can''t sleep." He smiled to the well-intentioned lass.


    Anya could only agree to the old professor''s wants. Although he was a very mild and tolerant to everyone, he could sometimes become quite stubborn. She was also intrigued by the black mineral.


    At first, only a single thumb-size was delivered. It had even received SS-level priority for research. Researchers flocked to determine what kind of mineral it was. After a lengthy examination, they found that the characteristics of the mineral didn''t match any of the compound present in the periodic table. It was a new compound!


    They realized the mineral was emitting a kind of energy, but what kind was still undetermined. A series of tests were met with failure after failure. Everyone thought maybe the amount was too small, so the energy emitted was too low to be measured. So, they requested for more samples.


    Around two months later, more samples of the same mineral came in. Tests after tests ensued, but still to no avail.


    Hence, Newton still worked on the black mineral in his resting time just to satisfy his curiosity covertly.


    [There must be a reason for it to be this important! There must be!] He chanted determinedly in his heart.


    [Tomorrow after a good rest, I''ll definitely return to lab.]


    ....

 22 Two Years’ Worth of Effort Part 2

    Zaleha tried to reduce her anxiety by taking a deep breath before touching the body of the first prototype spaceship fitted with the FTL-engine. She had gone through 2 years of crazy training regime to hone her ability to the fullest just for this moment. Having His Highness Ancestor King Roland standing by her side observing, aggravated her nervousness. This was the final step before deployment which was scheduled for tomorrow. A number of researchers and workers were waiting a hundred meters away from her location, waiting for her to complete her job.


    A few centimeters before the touch, she stopped abruptly and turned to the Ancestor King, "Your Highness, can you please stay a bit further away? 500 meters away will be better." Zaleha was a little anxious. If only the calm Sis Melati was here, she could vacate the Ancestor King as soon as possible if something went wrong. After all, the mighty immortal king was not impervious to injury. She heard that he was as weak as a chicken. However, she can''t say it outright. The immortal king will certainly be offended.


    "Why? Are you not confident with your own abilities?" She could see the Immortal King smiled calmly at her.


    "I do. Just in case." Zaleha lied smoothly with a slight discomfort in her heart while blinking her large doe eyes. Sweat can be seen glistening on her milk coffee colored skin. Truthfully, this will be the first time she magnetized her super strength-super speed combo to an item with this kind of mass. She was successful after thousands of tries with different masses. However, prior to this moment, she was lacking in control for the longest time. Once she touched something with her powers, it immediately sped on without reserve until its power was drained. The imbued super strength characteristic automatically bestowed on items magnetized had incurred countless damage. She was probably the most unpopular witch in Neverwinter.


    Two years of hard training managed to control her powers well. The immortal king had also created a device to funnel and control the ''speed'' imbued by her. It could be use with a switch at times of need by the flight operator and connected with a magic stone reservoir. This will in turn assisted the FTL engine to burst into a higher speed value as compared to the theoretical 3.8 SOL. This was a classic example of a merging between technology and magic.


    "We will proceed. I believe in you. Your hard work will not fail you." The immortal king was more confident than the witch herself.


    Zaleha took a moment to concentrate before proceeding to touch the body of the spaceship. She funneled in her energy in waves, a little at a time. Shimmering bluish light was emitted from her touch, as it spread on the body of the dreadnought, just like the movement of an everlasting ripple from a drop of water, covering every inch of it.


    The immortal king waited patiently at her side for a good half hour.


    Zaleha opened her eyes with confidence.


    "It''s done, Your Highness." She said as she can see the smile on King Roland face.


    [Thank god I have not failed my sisters and His Highness.]


    ...


    Khora walked towards the flying vessel accompanied by twenty researchers. They were the last group to board before the spaceship will embark on its first journey. Their first mission will be to orbit their planet and go to the moon using the primary engine and FTL-engine for data collection. Their second mission is to test the efficiency of the FTL-engine boosted with Zaleha''s ability by making a jump to the nearest planet and return. Theoretically, their test-run will take three months if everything turns out fine.


    Her own presence was needed in the flight test to observe the stability and integrity of the artificial domain she created. In her hands, she brought along more than thirty samples with differing parameters in them. The white circular plates were stacked individually in two vertical metallic holders. Beside her, Vayu observed the majestic spaceship with an awed expression.


    "The final design of this spaceship is way different from the ones in the ocean." She turned to her best friend beside her.


    "Of course it will be different, Vayu. The ones you used to see was for sea operations. This one is for space. I heard from other sisters, this spaceship is supposed to be the first flying aircraft inside our atmosphere but was modified to cater to outer space. Sis Anya is a genius!" Khora updated her bestie with the latest gossip.


    "I wonder if we will be alright." Vayu was slightly worried.


    "Hush, stop worrying Vayu. We will be back before we realize" Khora was also very nervous in her heart but tried her best not to think too much. She knew this test run was highly dangerous. If her hands were not full right now, she would''ve pinched Vayu''s cheeks savagely. That girl really need to stop spouting sensitive sentences.


    Khora''s most important job in the test flight was to find any problems that might occur especially during the usage of warp drive.She had tested her samples in vacuum as well as in unstable environments. Fortunately, the circular plates were robust enough to withstand the harsh elements. However, she had no chance to test the independent spaces during warping moments since the first spaceship prototype was just finished. When space-time distortion occurred, will the life form present inside affected? Most importantly, will the artificial space collapse altogether or survived? She had no answer for that. Only time would tell.


    Everyone was very concerned with this matter. Loosing this witch meant loosing resources at an unprecedented level. They couldn''t survive without her. Her artificial space ability was very important for the underground bunker project. They were not afraid of lacking food resources and assets due to her. Every citizen could also be protected inside the bunkers without compromising on basic comfort while waiting for planetary migration.


    However, this time, everyone knew that the trial run for the FTL-engine was crucial. If the artificial independent space couldn''t withstand the wrap effect, it wasn''t possible for them to evacuate everyone from their home planet. They didn''t have that kind of resources and time to build spaceships after spaceships to accommodate every single life-form from their dying planet.


    In front of the hatch, Anya greeted her sisters-in-arms with a smile. "Welcome sisters. Please come in."


    Khora and Vayu could only smile back to her while trying their best to not show their negative emotions. A military officer helped took over the metallic holder containing the experimental plates from Khora''s two hands.


    "So, would you like a tour inside this spaceship?" Anya smiled at the two worried-looking ladies.


    "Of course! I''d like to see the famed FTL-engine room. I heard the Antimatter Core you developed was a must-see sight!" Khora tried her best to lift the moods of everyone.


    "Excuse me, I would like to deliver something to a Miss Anya, Miss Zaleha, Miss Khora, and Miss Vayu." A beautiful lady with a serious demeanor in a tight-skin suit stopped them. She opened up a flat metallic box facing the three witches. Inside, there was four sets of square crystal white earrings the size of a thumb each. It was simple yet delicate. "From His Highness Roland. He asks that you wear them at all times. It is a safety measure, which will act automatically during times of need."


    Before the sisters could ask more out of the mysterious lady, she had already gone away after they took a pair of earrings each. Vayu took the extra one and planned to give it to Zaleha later inside the command room. The ladies were baffled with the Immortal King''s gift. To squeeze such things inside this tiny thing was unbelievable. Was it even possible?


    "Don''t think too much. Wear them now before you forgot." Anya immediately clasped the earrings on her own ears. The other two witches removed their present earrings and replaced with the new ones. She held both of their hands each and pulled them into the spaceship.


    ...


    At 0800, 18 February 4814, the first spaceship under the dreadnought-category, fitted with the FTL-engine had been launched to space from Neverwinter Military Spaceport. A total of one hundred military personnel and fifty research personnel of varying fields were onboard. The crew captain was Major Anya Stratosky. All the workers and research team members cried as they watched the launch from the main screen in their workspace or their personal Cerebral Connectors. They knew that all their hope in their heart rested together with the spaceship.


    "Please be successful." Newton watched the launch from afar.


    After the spaceship was gone, he turned around and walked back into the research facility with renewed gait. He still got a lot to do as he knew that this is only the beginning.


    ...

 23 Princess Linneia Wimbledons Journal

    Linneia swiped through her personal journal entries using her metallic skeleton glove with a tired expression inside the shared tent. She had bunked with the other witches inside one spacious tent, hence there was no privacy between them. They had been on the move for the last 72 hours to avoid an incoming snowstorm from the west of the level four region they''re currently in. Thank goodness they have a team of scientists on board that was capable of constantly observing and calculating the fluctuation of the environmental conditions to predict the weather in real time. The storm predicted was so gigantic. There was a high probability that they might get scattered or worse lost their lives if they were directly hit.


    Being successful in avoiding the storm after such an arduous journey, Linneia had instructed her exploration team to find a safe location to rest for 24 hours. They pitched their tents in a somewhat flat but with a slightly elevated terrain with their vehicles parked encircling the tents to reduce direct contact with the wind with sentries taking turns to watch out around the clock. This way, their encampment would be easily defended against any incoming ferocious beasts.


    Linneia''s tent was situated in the middle of their encampment which made the cold wind a bit bearable. The cold wind outside blew harshly as usual, showing no signs of slowing down. Everything looked pure white, stretching as far as they could see. However, thankfully the sky was littered with a river of sparkling stars. Even the everlasting snowstorm could not obscure the sparkling jewels blanketing the night''s sky.


    She sympathized with the sentries manning the lookouts the most. The rest of the girls were fast asleep from extreme exhaustion with only Raksha was not in her bed. She had volunteered to join the sentries'' group earlier the night before and the night before that as well. Even after these two years together, Linneia still couldn''t really fathom the depth of the general which seemed to have infinite amount of energy. Linneia looked at the digital clock generated in her sight from the Cerebral Connector. That moment was around an hour or two before dawn.


    She swiped to her very first log entry since she started the journey and lightly went through. She was trying to find older equations she had previously worked on for Professor Newton a few hundred thousand miles away. It seemed that he needed the information urgently for his research.


    7 July 4812


    What a bad way to start the expedition. In the train to reach the furthest outpost but I still couldn''t find my honeyed dried fish snack anywhere. I''m so pissed off!


    9 July 4812


    Reached the Lesterchild''s Military Outpost. Board Vulture III after the briefing. Finally found my honeyed dried fish snack in one of my Power Bank. So happy.


    3 August 4812


    What a boring journey! Moving towards north means approaching the cold. It was supposed to be summer, but we already needed to wear two layers of thick jackets. Everything was white. It'' so boring. I''ll work on the algorithm to fill my time.


    12 August 4812


    We had just survived an attack from a large group of gigantic birds the size of cows. The Vulture had made an emergency landing on a cliff. The mechanics was working on it. The problems were not that extensive and one of the engineers should be able to repair it. If only Anya is here, then she could repair it quickly.


    17 August 4812


    We were about to finish with repair. We will be entering a level two danger zone category from here onwards. The probability of encountering D-level ferocious beast such as the gigantic birds will increase to forty percent. The exploration members have been sufficiently briefed about this. On a side note, great progress was made on the calculations for the modified White''s postulates spoken by Ancestor King during the Grand Lecture before. I can feel that I''m on the verge of a breakthrough!


    ...


    Linneia skimmed through few pages of the journal. It should be a couple of entries after this. She could hear the wind blowing harshly outside and involuntarily shivered. Only the exploration team understood the harsh cold in this area. Around three months ago, Vulture III had finally entered the level four airspace. The airspace was so turbulent with shards of dangerous sharp wind and large ice debris. The flight crew had tried to brave the stormy weather, believing that the outer body of the Vulture could take it.


    Around two kilometers in, an extremely huge chunk of sharp ice lunged towards their aircraft out of nowhere like a gigantic lance! With the expert maneuvering of the flight pilot, they had managed to save their little lives, but the body of the aircraft needed an extensive repair; the ice chunk had grazed the fuselage rendering the aircraft losing its stability. In this kind of turbulent condition, forcing to continue the journey mid-air was akin to killing oneself.


    Hence, they had started travelling using amphibious armored military trucks once they entered the grade four region on land. The trucks were kept in the artificial space plate disc developed by Space-i Corporation, a wholly own company singlehandedly developed by Miss Khora. Keeping non-living materials in artificial space was not a problem to the business savvy beautiful witch. She started out by developing the company into selling 1 cubic meter storage space known as Material Power Bank to the masses 8 years ago. Since then, she had transitioned to living organisms, with larger capacity independent spaces, working hand in hand with the government. Linneia heard she was getting ready to test her work in space in a few days'' time by following the spaceship crew on their first maiden flight.


    The trucks themselves were the most successful models in a number of military campaigns around the border of Graycastle empire. They have compacted armor bodies with the ability to move on land and in water. Light hot weapons were mounted atop each amphibian trucks. The only downside of the vehicles was their small capacity. They could only hold at most six personnel with enough resources and ammunition. Hence, the amphibian truck convoy was really extensive until they could be used to form perimeters encircling their tents every time during breaks. Steady attacks from ferocious animals came and go, but none had managed to penetrate the armor trucks'' defense before they could be shot down to the last one.


    [Yes. This is the entry Prof Newton needed.] Linneia finally found what she was looking for. She made a copy of the calculations and send the information to Prof Newton''s personal tablet. She knew the professor didn''t opt for Cerebral Connector surgery before, so she had arranged for a tablet connected to the centralized Cerebral Connector Depository Server as soon as she knew the old professor was interested to join the research team. It was the same model as the one she gave to her own great grandfather, His Majesty Roland.


    After completing what she had promised, she then continued to read through her own personal journal entries to see if she has missed anything for the past two years.


    ...


    23 August 4813


    It took us one year to enter the level three region. The journey was dry and uneventful. I was only entertained by the research efforts over at Neverwinter. Prof Newton had been very thoughtful to include me into all of their research discussions. I will help them as much as I can if possible.


    The attacks from aerial ferocious beast were still manageable before. However, once we entered the level four region, we encountered a flying beast the size of a four-storey building! The body was pitch black and elongated like a snake, but it was airborne during our encounter. The beast was aggressive and initiate an attack on us once it spotted us. Once again, our expert pilot had saved us by his out-of-the-world extreme maneuvers.


    A team of military personnel led by General Raksha manned Vulture''s Laser Cannons and a number of Subsonic Guided Missiles to face off with the flying black snake. After the bombardments, the snake-like beast turned tail and planned to run away to my relief. However, Adjutant Solstice appeared out of nowhere and delivered a single astounding punch to the snake beast''s left temple. Brain matter splashed out as he grabbed for the soul-core of the beast and returned to the aircraft.


    Everybody couldn''t fathom how he could do that and had finally seen the adjutant in a new light. I myself was very surprised at that moment. It reminded me of His Highness jokes during Raksha''s first meeting with him. It turns out Raksha''s right hand man is not simple at all.


    ...


    Linneia skimmed through a number of entries again until she reached the latest one. It was written three weeks ago as soon as they started journeying into the level-four hazardous region. From this point onwards, it was safe to say that they nearly reached their destination following the map and notes given by her great grandpa. It was not easy at all. She wondered how her great grandpa did it before when there was no aircrafts and amphibian vehicles. She previously thought that the ancestor king''s stories must have been greatly exaggerated but she could only acknowledge his great grandpa''s prowess now.


    Progressing from the starting point of the level four region, they have been sieged by rampaging ferocious beasts multiple times when they unintentionally entered their territory. Only after passing the snowstorm did they manage to catch their breath. Linneia wanted to update her journal before they moved out later today. She had a premonition that she would be too busy to update her journal after this since they were already nearing the valley region spoken by her great grandpa. After reading through the last journal entry, she started typing a new one midair. The alphabets appeared in hologram form where she needed to lightly touch them in order to select them.


    ...


    12 February 4814


    We had just survived a 5th grade snowstorm. The blizzard was very dangerous. We have been on the move for the last 72 long hours just to put some distance from the large storm. We have witnessed with our own eyes several ferocious beasts being shredded by sharp ice chunks flying at high speed. It was like they entered a high powered blender. Thank god that our team is alright this time.


    Since the last entry, we have encountered many sieges from ferocious animals. The one to note was the attack from a pack of mutated ice wolves. These wolves were as large as a car each, and there were about two hundred of them in a group. Initially they harassed us with minor skirmishes with the military guards. Prof Rogers explained that they wouldn''t truly attack until they have figured out our group''s strength. Towards the end, the attacks became increasing savage signaling their desperation. A number of military personnel who were courageous, again, led by General Raksha, had stayed at the rear to defend against them. The arrival of the storm had scattered the fight where each party take off at different direction.


    Later today we will move towards the Nightcurtain Valley. It should take around two days'' travel. I have sent out a number of scouts to survey the area and the route leading to the valley.


    On a side note, Prof Newton had informed me that they are currently performing final touches on the spaceship. The first test flight will commence in six days from now. Hope everything will be alright.


    ...


    Once Linneia finished up her latest log entry, she heard zipper of the tent''s door being opened. Raksha''s head popped in with white snow covering her damp hair as she was breathing heavily. Linneia placed the Cerebral Connector''s core at the back of her neck and inquired gently, "Sister Raksha, who are you looking for?"


    Raksha was taken aback and immediately composed herself. "Princess, I have something urgent to report." She gestured slightly. "The scout team we sent to survey the route forward is back. All of them are heavily injured! Please follow me!"


    Linneia hastily got up from her seat and grabbed her heavy cloak. She draped the cloak hastily and followed Raksha towards the medic tent. She had a really bad feeling about this incident and hoped that the scout can enlighten them.


    ...

 24 The Rabbit Material Powerbank Limited Edition Series

    Linneia flipped opened the loosely covered tent only to be assaulted by a heavy bloody stench into her nostril. The air inside was warm and humid. Medical personnel were hurrying to and fro in between patients.


    She immediately spotted the group of scouts she had sent about 13 hours before. The scout leader was too grievously wounded and was in bouts of intermittent unconsciousness. During his waking moments, he was not lucid enough due to intense pain.


    One of his least injured subordinates volunteered to report what happened to the crown princess, "We moved with stealth and speed as per Your Highness wish, just like a couple of times before. We''re on high alert all the time as we knew we''re entering the highly dangerous I-zone region. However, before we could enter the valley marked in the map, we were ambushed by a group of extremely large intelligent beasts."


    "These beasts were not just large in number and size, their moves were well coordinated too. The worst thing is, they could fly, and they are highly aggressive. They strike upon eye contact. It feels like we have intruded into their most important territory."


    "Colonel Liam here had saved all of us from sure death. We had no choice but to open fire to save our lives. Liam detonated a few emergency explosives at close range, and yet only a small number was affected. We took the opportunity to slip away but was constantly being pursued. We''re not sure how they have detected us as we have taken extreme care not to be traced. We had tried our best to lose the tail and finally succeeded before returning to camp." The injured scout summed up his report.


    Linneia felt an ominous premonition from the scout''s story. "How large is the group of the beast?"


    "At least hundreds, bordering to a thousand." The soldier replied worriedly.


    "You guys and Colonel Liam has done a good job and probably will save us all with this info. Have a rest now." Linneia said to the soldier.


    "Raksha, let''s get our sisters and soldiers ready. We must prepare ourselves to clash with the beasts." Linneia decided after a while. She saw the worry in Raksha''s eyes. She knew they were thinking the same thing. There was a very low chance these scouts were able to get away from the beast since they were able to detect them when they camouflaged themselves using the usual means. The beasts may have returned to their lair to consolidate their forces to hit them heavily after they found their camp ground.


    General Raksha gave a second opinion, "How about if we hit them first in their place, Your Highness?"


    "We will lose the home ground advantage. However, your proposal has its merit. Let''s make a small elite team consisted of the Witch Union sisters as vanguards. The other military personnel must join the current sentry to bolster the strength of the perimeter. Bring forth our heavy assault high speed weapons to everyone. It is time to use it." Linneia spoke after a moment of consideration.


    Linneia left the medic tent to return to her sleeping quarter to rouse up the sisters while Raksha collected more information on the characteristics of the incoming beasts from the scouts and to do all the preparation work.


    ...


    Frieda opened her eyes after she locked on Sister Khora''s beautiful luminescent purple ''color'' with her mind. She appeared just behind the busy lady. Sister Khora was sitting in front of a white workbench while closing her eyes and touching a white circular plate disc with both hands. Her brows were scrunching away, showing she was concentrating hard on something. Frieda waited patiently, not wanting to disturb her.


    Frieda looked around the clean white space surrounding her. This must be one of the restricted laboratory inside the research facility of the space exploration group. It was her first time here. It was blisteringly hot. She then realized she was still in her triple layered wintercoat. She opened her coat and placed it on a chair not far from her. The room was all white, with stacks of white plate discs systematically arranged from the floor to ceiling. She could feel a large number of ''colors'' moving erratically not far from her position. It might be startled people outside the room. After all there was a viewing cum communication platform not far from where she was standing. She was used to this.


    After five minutes of waiting, she increasingly felt troubled. She was monitoring Sister Linneia''s color and Sister Raksha''s color in her mind. She could perceive their movements solely through inferring the dispersion of the color. Sister Raksha was together with the other sisters from the Witches'' Union. They might want to move out soon. She needed to return fast so that she could join them too.


    Gently, she tapped on Khora''s shoulder gently, "Sister Khora, excuse me. Don''t be alarmed. Frieda here."


    Frieda saw the beautiful sister was jolted although she had tried hard to soften her approach in order not to startle her. Sister Khora didn''t opened her eyes as beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. After a minute, the white plate disc in her hands crumbled to smithereens.


    Frieda was extremely guilty! Oh no¡­ what did I do?! TT_____TT


    ...


    Khora took a deep breath after the struggle; her limbs felt weak as she slumped on the workbench amidst the broken white plate disc debris. She failed to stabilize the domain again. She still couldn''t handle such a large space. Right now, she could only create a space as big as the castle area stably. She was aiming for the size of Neverwinter as a whole. She had tried hard for half a day but to no avail. She knew she was close, so close! She was confident she could do it. There was only six days before the spaceship launch into space for the test flight. She intended to make it possible by then. She needed to test the efficacy of her artificial domains during warping moments. Only then, the ability to travel to space with a space vessel would be viable for the nation. If not, they would face the problem of lacking space for people and resources. She opened her long lashes exhaustedly to the sobbing of little Frieda by her side and smile while sighing.


    "It''s alright, little Frieda. It''s not your fault. There was something wrong with the experiment from the beginning." Khora dotingly caressed the head of the little loli. She knew the girl would not disturb her if she was not in an emergency. Seeing her here meant something was happening to the group of exploration team. She must be sent by the crown princess for something.


    "Yes dear, what can I do for you?" She smiled warmly to ease the little girl''s heart.


    In between sniveling, Frieda told the nice sister what was happening at the encampment in the extreme north, "...and so Sis Linneia wanted me to ask Sister Khora if the independent space is ready to be used. We don''t need such a big space, as big as around three adjoining classrooms would suffice. We need to keep the noncombatants inside before the clash with the incoming ferocious beasts." Frieda had gotten over her guiltiness and now talked with a small voice animatedly while calculating with her fingers.


    This girl is too cute! Khora grabbed Frieda and gave her a hug. Her serious expression was way too adorable. "Sure sweetie. Sister have what you need. How many do you want? I even have a couple of material powerbanks of that size in hand right now." Khora the noveau riche spoke nonchalantly to the little loli. She paused, then whispered to the little girl''s ear. "It''s even in the limited edition rabbit shape too. You can keep one after the crown princess has finish using it." She pushed a button and spoke through an intercom calling for a helper from outside the room.


    Frieda held her cheek while blushing happily. She loved rabbits for the longest time! What a coincidence! At this moment, Frieda has already forgotten her time-sensitive mission given by Linneia.


    After a short moment, the helper came over with a tray in hand. Three silver rabbit-shaped material powerbanks lay atop a soft velvety dark blue cloth on top of the tray, only at the size of a baby''s palm each. Each was attached with a sturdy short chain. The helper''s hands were slightly shivering; he knew he couldn''t afford even one of these if he accidentally broke them. These powerbanks probably would cost the price of a high end real estate beside the upscale Redwater River. He had saved for three years to own one material powerbank with the size of a one cubic meter; it was in trend now for everyone to be hands-free with a single Space-i Corporation''s latest version silver bracelet.


    "Oh, actually, we just needed one." She finally remembered her job while closing her face with both hands bashfully.


    Khora just smiled and took one of the ''rabbit''. She used a number of tools and modified the short chain into a longer one with random materials lying on the table on the spot in a flash. It changed into a necklace with a rabbit pendant. Khora fastened the chain strap around the little girl''s neck. "If it is so, then, this will be Big Sister''s gift for you. Just use it as you like. I''ll send the rest of the activation codes to your Connector later. The other two, just give them to Sister Linneia for me. Complimentary gift from Space-i Corporation for the Exploration Team''s hard work. These ones are a bit special compared to the normal ones. Don''t use it as a storage box and keep useless things inside. Instead, use it as an emergency measure to keep everyone inside from harm''s way. In fact, with this present, there is no need for a large entourage. Just move everyone inside to shield them from the cold. Only a small competent group needed to move outside. You guys can even rotate." She explained her latest product proudly to the little loli.


    The helper gasped at his boss'' narrative. This product didn''t even hit the market yet. It probably will be monopolized by the government for the planetary migration project. He was glad about his boss'' breakthrough while at the same time feeling great envy towards the cute little girl. The price would be unimaginable! It was surely a pleasant thing to be the youngest witch in the Witch Union. Equipped with an adorable face, a cute voice, and great ability as her arsenal, she was one of the most famous darlings of Neverwinter. Everyone gives you something FOC with a kindly face everywhere you go.


    The helper turned to leave after delivering the items.


    "Mr. Hammond is it?" Khora stopped the young man.


    "Yes, Boss!" He answered nervously! Did he do something to anger his beautiful boss?


    Khora stood up from her chair and walked towards the helper as he stood rigidly without moving. She fetched a cola flavored sunflower-shaped lollipop from the helper''s breast pocket. "I''ll pay you back later." She smiled sweetly.


    "Take this too. Big sister''s treat." In front of Hammond''s eyes, she passed the lollipop to the little girl with a doting smile.


    Hammond was feeling incredulous as he saw the little loli vanished with a bashful smile from his very own eyes. That was the famed power of teleportation he heard so much about. He truly hoped the other team on the other side will be alright.


    ...

 25 Ingenious Sustainability

    Hi guys;


    Sorry to disturb your reading. This is the second time we left you a lengthy message. Please bear with it and read through because it is somewhat important.


    Mr Mooncat and I have an announcement to make. As of the previous few weeks, we have found that, the number of readings didn''t increase even slightly, it was actually dwindling. Although the number of collection was quite high as compared to our main novel (ASTHW), the reading count was very low, bordering on nonexistance. It''s like people didn''t read the weekly updates at all. It was the same with the number of power stones received. This made us realize we''ve been expending our energy for nothing.


    Previously, I''ve told you guys, this story is a short story spanning on about less than 100 episodes. Right now, we''re about a third in from the final storyline. However, following this trend, we''ve finally planned to concede. I don''t want to spend anymore energy on a story that nobody wants to read. It didn''t just taxed my feelings, it also became a burden. It is not joyful to write anymore.


    Nonetheless, to the small number of avid readers, no worries, we won''t leave you hanging. After a discussion with Mr Mooncat, we came to an agreement to summarize the storyline into 10 final chapters starting from the next one (chapter 25 is a normal chapter). The final chapter of GW will be chapter 35. With this, we wouldn''t left it unfinished and give a sense of closure to the readers following the story (thank you so much for your support). I know, if right now I changed the story into a hiatus, I won''t ever continue writing. We did have a complete layout of the whole story anyway.


    So later, please don''t complain saying the story didn''t have essence, or is extremely rushed, or the writing was monotonous and uninteresting, etcs *laughing*. To whomever interested, do follow our main story, A Sojourn of a Transmigrated Housewife. We will focus our energy on that one starting from Glory of the Witches finale.


    Thank you for reading.


    You have our heartfelt gratitude. :)


    Mrs Mooncat


    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


    Chapter 25: Ingenious Sustainability


    After she had taken the lollipop and the ''Rabbit'', Frieda told big sister Khora that she really needed to go now. She had taken longer than necessary conversing with the beautiful big sister and was feeling a little guilty with the sister princess. She smiled bashfully to the helper for the trophy before she closed her eyes and disappeared from Khora''s view.


    Frieda opened her eyes again in the main tent where all the big sisters were gathered together. All except for Sister Raksha. She was always away most of the time. Frieda could feel the precipitated atmosphere as she observed the others hastily gathering their personal items so that they could be on the move. Frieda knew regardless of what the outcome of the incoming battle, they will still break camp and proceed to enter the valley. She heard that the artifact they seek was within an underground cave somewhere within the valley.


    "Frieda dear, did you manage to get what I asked of you from Sister Khora?" Linneia break away from her discussion with some of the sisters and asked the little girl as soon as she saw her appearing. This little girl''s ability was very useful. It didn''t matter how far they have gone from Neverwinter. She can always return to Neverwinter and brought along many important things for them. Once she had secretly asked her to fill up her powerbank with honeyed dried fish in Neverwinter after she ran out for almost a week. She had no choice as she became so listless due to lack of motivation.


    "Yes. Big Sis Khora gave two actually. She said, it''s a complimentary gift to the exploration team." Frieda quoted Khora''s words exactly, afraid that she might missed some important information.


    "Thank you dear." Linneia ruffled the cute loli''s head. "Everyone, let''s move out after you settle your things and meet up outside of this tent in 15 minutes time, at 0540 sharp. Don''t be late." She spoke the words loud and clear after she glimpsed at the timer in her sight. She then called for a runner to inform every tent for the ad-hoc gathering.


    ...


    Frieda walked out of the tent with a nervous heart. She knew this time; the fight might be extremely dangerous. She heard some of the soldiers attacked by the beasts were fatally wounded. There was even one who was dying. She remembered it might have been the ''always serious'' Brother Liam. She really hoped he would pull through. Although he always kept a serious face, he was kind and helped her selflessly when she was attacked last time. Although now they did have a healing witch, but her ability was still very underdeveloped. After two years of ongoing training, she could at most treated medium to heavy wounds at the moment. She was a late addition to the team last time. Brother Liam''s condition was much worse as he had pulverized bones on certain areas of his body as well as second and third degree burn wounds in his attempt to save his comrades previously. Frieda needed to do her part to help out in the fight later. However, she couldn''t stop herself from feeling scared since it will be her first time entering combat.


    Everyone gathered in front of big sister princess tent at 0540 sharp. No one was missing except for the soldiers manning the armored trucks at the perimeter. Two years of journeying made her close to with everyone.


    Sister Linneia made a short briefing to everyone present and instructed the researchers and helpers to enter the independent space she got from Sister Khora. The participants selected beginning to line up into a single file in front of Sister Linneia. Everyone had a skeptical expression. Frieda knew what they were thinking. Material powerbanks from Space-i Corporation were meant for non-living things. Linneia pressed the blue left eye of the silver rabbit and touched it to Grandpa Rogers first. Then, it was Madam Emma''s turn. Then, Uncle Tobias. And the list went on. The last few brought along camping gears, food and water inside.


    "Frieda, come here, it''s your turn." Sister Linneia called her over.


    Frieda was stumped. She thought she was staying behind to join the ranks of combatants. "But I thought I''m joining the fight. I can be useful." She said with a small, timid voice.


    Linneia walked over to the brave child. "It''s okay. You can help with guarding the people inside. They need extra care, especially the elderly."


    Frieda sighed dejectedly, "But.. Alright." She know better than to argue with Linneia. She touched the surface of the ''rabbit'' and disappeared.


    ...


    When her sights cleared up. She realized that she appeared in a small meadow! The space was not just ''triple the size of a classroom''. It''s an open space the size of a castle ground! It was very spacious, lush, and green. The air felt crisp and fresh, and at the fringe of the meadow was a small field of growing vegetables.


    Frieda could hear the gasps of delight from the other people around her. All of them have been away from warm and lush greenery for two whole years, and these were truly a feast to the eyes. They immediately shed off their heavy winter coats and walked towards a cluster of buildings beside the small vegetable garden.


    "There was a water generator and solar powered generator for electricity inside. There was even an air modulator to measure the air content and corrected them when necessary." Prof Rogers was truly surprised with the arrangements. He looked upwards and saw the solar lights hanging from the ceiling. The lights nourished the trees and generates electricity. The electricity empowered the lights. The trees produced air. It was a complete sustainable cycle. Ingenious!


    They entered the next building and saw a pod-like living quarters, just like a bee-hive, a cooking area, a freezer room stocked with provisions, washrooms, and even a lounge. All of them were speechless beyond compare in the sight of such luxury. Space-i corporation had truly went above and beyond to provide comfort for them. Prof Rogers knew, this must be the beta testing material for the bunker project the corporation was working on with the government and they were fortunate enough to be the first to use it.


    Prof Rogers choose a pod at random and opened the small door. The pod has enough room for one person to lie down or sit up but not to stand. He took the pillow and the thick blanket inside and walked out to the middle of the meadow. He placed the blanket neatly, throw in the pillow and lie down facing up while sighing happily.


    Who wanted to stay inside that coffin-like bed, soaking in on the lights was much better!!!


    Frieda and the rest chuckled at the old professor''s antics. Later, one by one, they started following the old professor''s ingenious method and lied down relaxing.


    The nervous vibe disappeared and were replaced by a relaxing atmosphere. Inadvertently, everyone was having a nice picnic under the ''sun''. They hope the team outside would be alright and they could finish their objective so they could return to their hometown as soon as possible.


    ...

 26 Nightcurtain Valley’s Hidden Artifac

    Linneia and co. felt very grateful; the Rabbit material powerbank arrived just at the right time. They all felt relieved that now the noncombatants would be fine once they left the campsite ground. Without them present, Linneia changed her tactics to maximize efficiency on stealth and attacking after consulting with several military advisers on board.


    Earlier, she decided to camp there because she was responsible for the safety of the noncombatants, as staying in the campground location provided a homeground advantage considering the favorable terrain they were in. She was just trying her luck with by asking for a habitable independent space from Khora.


    Unbeknownst to her, her exploration team was the first large scale human trial by the founder of i-Space Corporation. Cooperating with the calculative business minded Khora meant there was always a catch to everything. There was never a free lunch in this world, unless you were extremely cute and adorable.


    Nonetheless, now, they had become free from worry. Linneia instructed the majority of the military personnel to enter the second ''Rabbit'' and to be on standby. They had come up with a suitable tactics involving the usage of the rabbit. Inside the rabbit, every military personnel were on standby and armed to the teeth with the engines of their amphibious armored trucks on, inside an effective military formation. Fingers were ready to press the trigger while the safety locks were released.


    ...


    At the narrow entrance of the Nightcurtain Valley, eight shadows moved rapidly with stealth in total darkness. The team consisted of Princess Linneia, General Raksha, Miss Melati, and Miss Vera, followed by two other combat witches ferried by little Frieda from Neverwinter halfway through their exploration journey, Madam Helena and Miss Polka. They were led by Adjutant Solstis and Corporal Tehka at the forefront. All of them were equipped with a multifunctional infrared contact lenses and state-of-the-art stealth suit as they moved with ease.


    Corporal Tehka was one of the least injured scouts responsible to brief them of the surrounding and the nature of the enemy ahead. Vera was one of the witches who was part of an investigative team within their exploration group. She was an auxiliary witch; chosen to join the vanguard team due to her special masking ability to prevent detection from a wide range of senses including smell. She dutifully extended her masking ability to encompass all members inside an invisible dome, only detectable to her eyes. She was placed in the middle of the formation as they moved ahead at a constant rate.


    As they slipped through the entrance under the noses of the monkey-like ferocious beast, they moved forward towards the underground cave entrance deep within the valley. Along the way, they could see a vast number of beasts coordinating themselves into groups of organized teams. True to Linneia''s foresight, they were getting ready to move out and attack their camp a day away from the valley location.


    Adjutant Solstis signaled them to move forward carefully. Their whole team took steps after steps, evading large groups of ferocious beasts, sometimes circling around using a more complicated route. The ferocious beasts were an evolved species of winged primates localized on a frigid atmosphere, with the ability to utilize weapons on two pairs of limbs known as Winged Glacial Primates. Witnessing their intelligence, the group of explorers were ever so cautious in their movements in order not to alert them.


    They walked more than six kilometers before Linneia signaled them to stop. "This is it. The cave entrance should be somewhere around here." Linneia used her cerebral connector''s core to arrive at the rough location pinpointed by her great grandfather.


    "Vera, widen your masking dome to five hundred meter radius from this location. Everyone else, start searching." Everyone immediately dispersed to look for hidden entrance.


    "It''s here, your Highness!" The combat witch known as Polka found a large cave entrance at a naturally hidden location in between several large boulders. It was hidden under thick layers of snow.


    "Good job. Let''s check it first." The eight person team moved into the narrow opening and found a sea of nest full of large eggs! Linneia stepped forward carefully, avoiding each egg, while trying to find the door mentioned by Roland


    She came across a flat wall made from boulder, devoid of any contraptions. It looked just like any other cave wall. Except that there was a cryptic writing filling the whole wall. Linneia touched the carved in writings gently, "It''s really here." Just the way great grandfather told her two years ago. She was very impressed with her great grandfather''s ability to reach this location. It was not easy at all to her.


    Raksha walked over, "What language is this? I''ve never seen this writing." She observed the gigantic wall. It was as high as a twenty storey building.


    "The Ancestor King told me, it was the language of a civilization called "the Giants" during the first war of Divine Will. He has a theory of his own. He told me that the civilization might not die out but escaped the Divine Will using their artifact. We must find the artifact and confirm this theory."


    Linneia traced her index finger following the instructions given by her great grandfather while Raksha and Solstice were letting out their military personnel from the second ''rabbit''. They formed a tight perimeter and aimed their weapons towards the cave entrance while staying vigilant.


    Once the final inscription was traced, the writing on the wall shone a brilliant white light. A high pitched siren sounded, making everyone present startled! The sound was so loud until it resounded around the valley.


    ...


    Everyone heard the rumbling sound coming from outside getting louder by the second. The high pitched feral shrieks of the ferocious beasts accompanied the rumbling sounds. Solstice was ready to act as he accidentally step on one of the egg-like things scattering on the cave floor. Yellowy transparent slimy liquid poured out of the ''egg'', as a partially formed mini version of the ape-like beast outside with stunted wings slumped amongst the egg shells.


    Every pair of eyes looked at the cracked egg on Solstice foot, and finally all of them looked around. There were hundreds of eggs inside the cave-like structure. They now knew why the shrieks outside were so loud. They brace themselves at the inevitable clash.


    ...


    Linneia was under intense pressure and her heartbeat drummed like crazy. She tried hard to focus on the writings on the wall as she can here it was getting noisier outside. A sudden rumbling sound originated from the wall itself showed that a kind of mechanism was launched as soon as she traced the right sentence. However, the rate of movement was truly too slow! At the moment, only ten centimeters of gap were formed on at the side of the cave wall. It was still too narrow to go through!


    The sounds of gunshots and slashings of blades mixed together at the narrow entrance. It was truly fortunate the entrance was narrow and limit the number of beasts pouring in through the gap. Adjutant Solstice had arranged for the military elites following them to concentrate their fire power at the entrance while the lucky ones were finished off by blade wielding combat witches.


    Slowly, the number of soldiers getting killed increased, as they failed to finish off the ferocious beasts attacking. However, they have not breached the perimeter covered by the military as General Raksha and her adjutant also joined the fray to reduced casualties.


    "Princess! How much longer?! We''re about to be breached!" Raksha shouted while she was in battle frenzy. She was blitzing around everywhere while slashing the heads off beasts left and right with Solstice back to back. However, their number were extremely overwhelming. She couldn''t keep up much longer.


    "Just five minutes more! Persevere!" The gap was already three quarter of a thickness of a person. Linneia could already see a large circular structure suspended midair inside. The wall was about five meters thick. She mustered her courage and chucked the ''rabbit'' containing the noncombatants inside. The ''rabbit'' safely landed on the other side of the ''door''.


    Seeing Linneia''s action, Helen approached Polka as she signaled Raksha to retreat.


    Raksha immediately pulled back her team a bit at a time systematically while both combat witches stayed at the forefront. They retreated until their reached Linneia''s location. Linneia was extremely puzzled by the Senior Witch decision. However, she kept quiet and followed through with Helen''s arrangement. The swarm of Glacial Primates were as far as the eyes could see igniting terror in the hearts of the explorer team members, but they kept their courage up and didn''t falter.


    Once all of them retreated behind the witches from WIA, they activated their shields together. "Activate Recombinant Protocol 5.7!" Immediately, the armors on their bodies detached themselves and rearranged in midair into a crescent defensive formation. Both sets of armors combined turned into a large shield and emitted a white ray with repelling effects at the outer side.


    It was Roland''s latest innovation inspired from the armors worn by the Elder Witches of Witch Intelligence Agency. These armors were lower by a tier, as it meant for all the other field agents. From previous clashes, Roland knew that all other witch agents needed a set for safety purposes, not just the three main Elder Witches. He had not been idle for the past two years, churning out inventions after inventions, trying his best to fill Celine''s absence. However, a lot of the functions were removed due to lack in precious resources and materials.


    "Princess, according to the rate of the attacks from these animals, this shield could help us to hold on for ten minutes maximum." Helena explained calmly. "Please let the others entered the material powerbank and send them in first." Linneia acquiesced with the Senior Witch''s suggestion.


    The rest of the members were sent in including Vera and Tehka, leaving only six of them outside. Linneia adamantly didn''t want to enter as she didn''t wish to abandon the elite team outside facing the onslaught of the primate''s attacks. As she threw the ''rabbit'' through the gap, the shield started to break prematurely.


    "Crack..crack.." Cracking lines formed as the crazed primates attacked the shield with all they had. They went berserk long ago due to the loss of their young ones inside the nesting chamber.


    "Go! Go!" Melati suddenly pushed the others into the cave door opening, as they could fit their bodies through the gap by inching from their side. The five meter long track within the gate was the longest five meter they ever felt, as the fear of being crushed heavily weighted their mind. The two combat witches left their shields as they entered the gap. Surprisingly, Melati took the initiative to become the last to enter the gap.


    The shield collapsed just three minutes in, which was earlier than anticipated. As the mob were free from the constraint, they dashed over and forced themselves through the gap. Linneia''s heart was in her throat as she turned around once she successfully crossed over the tiny gap.


    She saw a number of glacial primates swarmed to meet with Melati head on first, in a single file, since she was the last one at the back of the group. As they neared the witch, they suddenly stopped. More and more primates stopped moving forward, choking the partially opened entrance. Linneia could see all of them were bleeding through their mouth. While Melati moved back calmly, a bloody item which looked like a still-beating heart appeared on both of her free hands from time to time. She then threw them down nonchalantly and kept on moving forward. She even stepped on some of the bloody organ-like things while she moved. Soon, the ferocious beast corpse piled up and blocked the gap giving Melati a breather. She reached the other side with ease, under the nervous gaze of her companions.


    "What? I''m used to this. Didn''t I told you guys I was in the elite unit before I joined the exploration team?" She smiled to the others demurely with her usual gracefulness. Helena gave her an approving nod. Melati had never told anymore about her involvement with the WIA unit as she had signed a nondisclosure contract as her conditions was slightly special, even to the crown princess. The WIA was independent from the governmental bodies of Graycastle. Only Roland knew her identity. However, since he was still worried for the exploration team, he pulled some strings to add two more agents to ensure their survival.


    "Please close the door, Sister Linneia." She smiled while indicating the inscription at the back of the door with her bloodied right hand. Intermittently, several unknown organs appeared out of nowhere on her palm, indicating she was harvesting lives like chopping vegetables. Without tracing the right closing inscription on the wall, the entrance will keep on getting larger. Before long, the glacial primates will be able to enter without any difficulty.


    "Oh yes, Adjutant. I saw you were particularly fond of ferocious beast cores, please help yourself." A bunch of still-warm bloodied cores, presumably freshly harvested, was placed on the now paled Solstice hands. Solstice thanked the gentle lady awkwardly. His heroic deeds paled in comparison to this beautiful witch. He was having mixed feelings. He admired the quiet and demure Melati and had developed respect for her from two years of interaction. However, he never knew she was more competent than him in the art of killing.


    As the door closed slowly, all of them could finally heaved a relieved sigh. They immediately observed the surrounding while Linneia immediately took the opportunity to contact Newton through her Cerebral Connector to describe their findings and discussed on their next action.


    ...


    Newton was having severe pains on his knee joints. He was resting in his resting chamber when he heard a notification on his old contactor.


    Although in pain, he stood up from his chair and walked towards his lab with slow steps. He knew that would be the crown princess as he had specifically set a specialized tone just for her. He knew the princess will only contact him due to important matters or during emergencies.


    As he reached the lab with a slight shortness of breath, he linked up his tablet with Neverwinter''s main server for connection. The familiar figure of the princess was projected from the tablet in 3D form. What intrigued him the most was a gigantic circular device suspended midair behind her. It was as large as the man-made lake behind the institute! Levitating stone steps was seemingly paved to reach the circular object. Before the first step of the stone ''stairs'', there was a stone stele with intricate inscription as high as ten meters with two bowl-like structures at the top.


    "As you can see Professor, we have finally reached our destination. Behind me is the artifact structure described by His Highness Ancestor King."


    "Congratulations, Princess." Newton was happy from the bottom of his heart with their success.


    He immediately shared his speculation after taking some time for observation. He knew that was what the princess wanted from him, "In my humble opinion, this structure represents some sort of portal or gate. However, since the gate is not connected to a physical location, it means it might need something to be switched on. It might be some kind of switch or most likely an energy source. Take note at the stone stele at the bottom of the levitating stairs. I believe, that might be an interface to control the artifact. Please arrange for the specialized investigator team to perform a thorough observation and testing. I recommend asking for assistance from Meifang and the sisters once you have gathered enough information. They might help."


    "Thank you for your helpful insight Professor. I will update you of our progress intermittently." Before Newton could say anything else, the connection was cut abruptly.


    Newton shook his head with a smile. [Young ones are full of vitality.]


    He felt at eased with the princess capabilities. Although still full of shortcomings, she was rapidly metamorphosing into a mature leader, capable of leading with a firm resolution and calmness within two short years. The splattering of blood and injuries on the bodies of the core exploration team members couldn''t elude his eyes. They must''ve just gone through an unimaginable hardship. Newton immediately contacted the biocomputer girls to let them know what was to be expected of them, and to assist the team with full cooperation. Right now, the exploration team was in an important juncture, just like him.


    ...


    Lora was skittish seeing blood and injuries everywhere. She just came from a peaceful ''picnic'' inside ''Rabbit 1''. They have named their portable ''home'' as ''Rabbit 1'', while military barracks became ''Rabbit 2''. As a member of the auxiliary investigation team, a subdivision team consisted of witches with investigative abilities, she was always being sheltered from harm by the core members and the military personnel. Seeing the core members seriously hurt made her felt guilty enjoying the extravagance provided from i-Space Corporation.


    Little did she knew, all of them were treated as guinea pigs by the corporation; their personal physical data were streamed live into Khora''s personal Cerebral Connector, as she adjusted the conditions inside manually with the help of Vayu by her side. Businessmen (and businesswomen) were truly sly!


    Lora went forward and concentrated. By her side, her best friend, Maya, who worked closely with her held her hand and channeled the power from a magic stone reservoir to help amplify her ability to the fullest. A few meters away from her, Meifang, Luojien and Yingyue were watching intently through Princess Linneia''s cerebral connector. They will form the link when they judged enough information were transmitted to them. This would assist in calculation speed as less unknown variable present, the less complicated the calculations would be.


    A transparent mirror as big as two large doors appeared like a mirage in front of Lora. It faded in and out of focus as she skillfully adjusted the size of the ''mirror'' into a palm size structure to save energy. She then pumped in her powers inside as the image inside the mirror blurred. Time was reversed within the mirror world, and all the person present could glimpse what happen inside with their own eyes. Everyone stood standby with connector core''s in hand, ready to record all information appearing inside Lora''s mirror world...


    10 years...


    50 years...


    100 years...


    500 years...


    1000 years...


    At this point, they could see a glimpse of the Ancestor King observing the artifact structure and left after a short moment.


    3000 years...


    The structure of the enclosed ''hall'' they were currently in looked newer and sleek.


    4000 years...


    5000 years...


    10,000 years ago...


    Lora was nearly at her limit when at this point, finally, she could glimpse something! She enlarged her mirror world with difficulty to the initial size to let everyone see. The current cave was actually a stately building akin to a research facility! Large beings five times the size of humans were moving to and fro. They saw two unknown items were placed into the bowl-like structure before the stele lit up with two panels of light; one green, while the other was yellow. A being in gray garb traced inscription on the back of the stele with care before the circular structure suddenly lit up into a wave-like light. A being with a lance-like weapon in its hand moved forward to climb the stairs and entered the rippling wave.


    At this moment, blood was oozing out from Lora''s facial orifices. She fell down into unconsciousness.


    ...


    Linneia pondered hard after she listened to Meifang and co. calculative extrapolation, Newton''s current postulate, and the team of researchers'' report. Lora, the witch who had contributed the most was currently in a coma with severe brain injury from extreme exertion. All of their backup magic stone were exhausted as she pushed herself to the maximum so that she could capture the image of how the foreign gigantic civilization used the stele. Linneia vowed that she will do everything she could to save Lora no matter what. Currently, they have all come to a conclusion that two energy sources compatible with the artifact portal must be used to activate the portal. Hence, the researchers were busy identifying the characteristics of both energy source depicted in the mirror world.


    She was confident that it will be only a matter of time until they could find them.


    For once, her heart felt much better, as if a heavy stone was lifted off it. There was some hope at this end after all.


    ...

 27 Alethea’s Astral Mission

    Morning guys,


    We deeply apologize to intrude on your reading (again), we would like to inform you guys, we might not be able to post a chapter next week (16/10/2018). We''ll be out for the whole week to Phuket with all of our extended family members. It''s a familyday kinda thing. And we sorely needed the break. As I say, this work is a week-to-week basis, so no stockpile. Sorry. I don''t like giving empty promises and put your hopes up for nothing.


    Alas, enjoy reading :)


    p/s: Mrs Mooncat just got a graphic tablet for birthday from Mr Mooncat (yay!) Soon, a picture of the characters in Glory of the Witches and A Sojourn of a Transmigrated Housewife will be released in our Patreon for patrons :) Wait for it!


    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++


    Chapter 27: Alethea''s Astral Mission


    Alethea has been travelling in her astral form for more than one year in a very high speed. She had pushed herself hard. Her speed was so high, she could even overtake the fastest military aircraft of Graycastle empire. She kept on travelling forward in a straight line following the same direction which was the sun. While travelling, she noticed that although the sun of their solar system was supposedly undergoing its death prematurely and should''ve released intense heat, she didn''t feel a single thing.


    The only thing she could feel was her astral body losing its connection with the main customized body bit by bit. She wondered, will she be able to re-establish connection with her own body later. Or did she need to go through a one-year acclimatization again when she returned to her home planet.


    At the beginning, it had been fun and astounding. Space was full of wonders as it was filled with blinding sparkling lights, stars and asteroid debris. However, later, it felt dull and dry, as she experienced the same scenery again and again every single day. She didn''t even have her personal VIRCOFF with her as the gadget was bound to her custom physical body, and not her consciousness in the form of astral body.


    The only changes were her surrounding was getting brighter and redder, indicating her getting closer to the star that functioned as the sun for their planet. As she was closing in, she finally noticed something wrong with their sun!


    From afar, she saw chains after chains of black material encircling the gigantic sun from top to bottom in wide arcs! The chains themselves were thick with cannon-like attachments which produced a purple ray, bombarding the sun from within the encirclement. Not far from the sun was eight structures in the shape of a large wheel in a perfect octagonal formation, also encircling the sun a few paces away from the ''chain''. A long ''cable'' attached from the black ''chain'' were connected to the ''hub'' in the middle of the ''wheel''. The ''hub'' was supported by crisscrossed white beam-like structures which functioned like ''spokes'' on a bicycle wheel.


    Alarm bells were ringing in her head. What His Majesty speculate is true! Alethea gasped. These structures were obviously doing something to their sun!


    Alethea was weighting the risks of either further investigating the wheel-like structure or returning home immediately to report. After some thought, she finally decided to take the risk to scout deeper. Just by observing the sun being sabotaged by these structures was not good enough. She must know who and how it was done. Who knows she could even destroy the structures to delay the inevitable demise of the sun and gave them more time? More importantly, she had not seen or felt any life forms from the structures.


    After conserving her mental energy for any unexpected encounters, she moved stealthily towards the nearest structure. From afar, it simply looked big. However, Alethea had not realized that the wheel-like structure was further than she thought. When she was in front of it, it was like an ant standing in front of a skyscraper. It was simply too gigantic!


    Her astral body easily went through the structure to investigate the inner parts. Inside were a myriad of components interconnected to each other, just like a complicated electronic board. The only difference was the connections were three dimensional, whereas a normal electronic board was just two dimensional. She moved cautiously among the electronic parts, afraid to touch any of them although she was just an apparition. Soon she reached a small path and followed through while memorizing everything that she saw. Roland would know what to do as long as she could go back and report.


    ....


    An intrusion was detected on the outer layer region of the Energy-harnessing Wheel. The intrusion was detected after being scanned by a variation of energy waves as physical detection has failed. Following the standard operating procedure, a group of drones were automatically dispatched to investigate by the mainframe. At the same time, the core mainframe controlling the overall energy mining process generated a class III report and immediately sent it to the headquarters at a nearby space station three galaxies away.


    An android in front of a workstation automatically switched on as it received a report from one of the mining wheels not far from their station. It then immediately passed it to a man in a navy blue bodysuit with a long dark purple hair tied up at the top of his head. The man read through the report and went to a large screen. After touching a few hovering holographic buttons in midair, the screen lit up as it was connected to a group of men in gray bodysuits.


    "You guys are near to Point X319 correct?" Skipping on the basic pleasantries, he went down to business with the group of mercenaries.


    "Just a few hops away, Boss. Is there anything that needed our attention?" A man with a languid expression tilted his head to the side and answered lazily. He injected some politeness into his words since the man in the screen did pay them well for their short term service.


    "There''s a rat in Wheel 6 of Wheel Station X319. The mainframe had sent in a group of drones to scout and eliminate if it just some trivial matter. However, please go ahead and observe just in case the rat got away. Do not immediately eliminate it upon encounter. If it could survive the drones, it means it is quite strong, and adequately intelligent. Find its lair and destroy." Unsatisfied with the helpers'' attitude, the man in blue became more stoic in his speech. He immediately terminated the connection after relaying his command. It was not good interacting with these savages for long periods of time. Just by observing their attitude, he noticed his heart rate and body temperature had increased from the indication panel in his eyesight.


    ...


    "Alright! Sit tight! Let''s go check the douchebag''s wheel!" Zenti decided to follow the guy''s instruction since the boys had been out of action for the longest time. It''s good to finally have a purposeas they have rested for too long already. If they could hunt some space beast, it''ll provide some form of entertainment. They took this short term mission to man a sector of energy-harnessing wheels from the money grubbing Estrella Conglomerate to rest after an S-level mission a year ago. However, since each sector was so large, they only responded to problems rather than wasting their energy core for unnecessary jumps. For the whole year of their service, there was only a few occasions where there was truly a problem that needed their attention. The rest were just false alarm.


    The whole team were sick of it and begged him to terminate the contract and started on a new, more exciting one. Zenti was helpless too. He was just a tiny team leader, with no influence over termination of an already-sealed contract. He could only accept or reject a mission before it started. Hence, their bored attitude pervaded the surrounding like a plague, influencing even him.


    After calculating the trajectory of the hyperjump, he immediately pushed the lever at full throttle. In his heart, he had a tiny hope that the space-organism could survive the attack of the drones. Like that, they could finally have something that they could do.


    ...


    Alethea had been fighting a group of beetle-like drone sentries for a few hours already! The number of drones swarming over her was nearly more than what she could handle. She longed for her body where she could employ her magic empowered by the Recombinant power armor. All these weaklings would be toasted in no time. Right now, she could only harness the astral power channeled to her from Neverwinter''s Sanctuary 3. Since she was just in the form of an apparition with only her consciousness and mental power present, she was helpless without a physical attack. Meanwhile, the drones in question couldn''t attack her too, but hounded over her like stray dogs. She knew she needed to annihilate every one of them in the hopes that they couldn''t relay the information about her to the owner of this structure in time.


    She had circled around the whole structure and even reached the hub to investigate. Although she didn''t understand a single thing, with her excellent memory, she could at least draw what she saw to Roland. At the hub was where she met with the first hovering beetle-like drone. It had tried to burn her with a tiny flamethrower and even switched to a laser. However, since she was just a form of consciousness, she was unharmed.


    Alethea finally decided to use the astral power supporting her travel to vanquish the drones. She compacted the power with her mental energy and released bullet-like projections with precision on each of the drones'' head-like metallic bodies. She had finally killed off all those annoying bugs after a while.


    [I need to move out as soon as possible! The possibility of me being discovered is extremely high!] She knew she had used a high amount of power from Sanctuary 3. She really hoped that she still have enough energy to travel back. She believed that Roland would know what to do to help her. After making sure that there was nothing following her, without further ado, she sped off in the direction of her home planet as soon as possible.


    Unknown to her, a camouflaged spacecraft was recording her actions a few hundred meters away. The stealth mode was so good that Alethea didn''t even detected a tiny bit of life force leaking from it.


    ...


    Zenti''s e-cigarette felled from his mouth as he saw an apparition in the form of a beautiful woman with long wavy hair emerged from the structure of the ''wheel''. He had been watching closely from the monitor which has been adjusted to a different wavelength. He had thought it was some kind of space beast who excelled in camouflaging, attacking the energy harnessing structure. These pests loved them structures because they were attracted to the energy stored inside.


    The woman was intangible! She was even flying without a spacesuit! Her body was made of light particles with a light shade of colors, which made Zenti and co. realized that it was a human after all. What made all of them shocked was how the woman didn''t break the structure as she moved out, rather, she moved through the structure like a ghost!


    "Captain! Is that a ghost or an angel?! So beautiful!" His lecherous wingman asked as he drooled.


    Seeing that Zenti didn''t answer their teammate''s comment, another one asked. "Should we catch her?"


    Zenti cleared his mind after a few second of contemplation, "Nope. I don''t think we can. Can you see that she can go through walls? Let''s just follow her to her base. Gentlemen, behave. We''re being paid to annihilate the whole species." In Zenti''s mind, he didn''t attribute the woman as a normal human anymore. Maybe she was a sub-human species that was not yet being discovered by the Empire.


    ...


    In the middle of the night, Roland was awakened by a loud siren from the secret room. He fell asleep on his workstation from exhaustion. He quickly ran towards the room to check on the Astral Power Reservoir energy level. The amount was dangerously low! He braced himself and went to a panel beside the reservoir and keyed in the amount of energy to be converted to Astral energy from the country''s reservoir.


    Pulling the lever resolutely, the whole of Graycastle electrical network except for research facilities and hospitals went on a power outage.


    [Something must''ve happened to Alethea!]


    His heart was in pain for not being able to help. He could only supply her with the highest amount of energy Graycastle could provide.


    ...


    A few minutes later, an announcement was made via the Cerebral Connector explaining about the power outrage in Graycastle. Citizens were expected to be patient for three hours before operations will return to normal. At the moment, the professionals of Graycastle were concentrated in Neverwinter Royal Capital, so they knew the power outrage might be due to massive consumption of energy from certain experimentation by the government in Neverwinter. Others were still oblivious to the truth, as they could only sigh for not being able to switch on their air-conditioning. The weather had been very unforgiving and extremely hot. Some were having heatstrokes even after information of heatstroke prevention has been circulated extensively by the pro-government media. Fires occurred at a daily basis at different parts of the empire.


    ...


    Alethea had been travelling back rapidly for almost a year. She knew she could depend on Roland. The astral energy was boosted nearly on the spot after she finished off the metallic bugs from the wheel-like structure before. As she came closer to her home planet, the familiar connection with her custom body got stronger and stronger. It made her felt a great sense of relief.


    As she neared the vicinity of the moon of their home planet, she saw a large pile of debris floating in space. Dead persons bearing the familiar military regiment uniforms were floating everywhere.


    Alethea was extremely shocked with her findings. She stopped moving to investigate.


    [What is going on?! Why are the military personnel here in space? Did the spaceship building project failed? Why are they not rescued?!] Due to her prolonged absence from Neverwinter and the inability to relay messages to each other, she didn''t know the empire''s current technological progress. However, she did know of the empire''s goals of making a fast spaceship in an effort to save everyone from their current predicament.


    Within the cluster of shattered spaceship parts, she found four red lights not far from each other, beeping the S.O.S. signal she learnt from Roland during a safety class session a long time ago. When she went near, she found the younger generations of the Witch Union unconscious inside! All of them were inside a shield-like elliptical bubble, seriously injured. However, all of them were inside a nutrient solution and their lives were not in jeopardy.


    She gritted her teeth and summoned her mental energy to pull all four ladies with her towards Neverwinter airspace with all her might.


    [I need to save them no matter what!]


    ...

 28 Hopes Demise

    Anya was observing the data sent to her Cerebral Connector from the crew members in real-time while observing their stunning home planet in the observation deck. Somewhere below there was her beloved city, the Royal City of Neverwinter. Streams after streams of data appeared in the left pane of her vision. She activated her powers on the background so that she didn''t have to truly concentrate on the data. Once an anomaly was detected, her powers will automatically single it out to its source and informed her. That was how convenient her powers could be when she worked with machines.


    Anya was very satisfied with the first flight test result. They had just finished testing the first engine''s integrity by travelling around their planet for three rounds before staying stationary at Neverwinter''s airspace to check on the dreadnought''s overall conditions. The flight was smooth, and the engine parameters were stable throughout their journey. Their cruising first engine for normal flight showed excellent stats, indicating no problems were encountered. In fact, with this kind of parameter, she had calculated that they could travel to their neighboring planet in just two days. She didn''t skimp on checking for the other backup engine, auxiliary engines, and power reservoirs before she felt truly confident to proceed with the next step.


    Anya watched pensively at their home planet with a melancholic feeling. Their ''Earth'' was very beautiful, slightly purplish blue in color. The inevitable migration was not too far in the future. Once it happens, she will need to leave her homeland. An indescribable sadness she didn''t know colored her emotions deep inside although her face remained stoic and devoid of feelings.After a deep sigh, she instructed her crew members to start with the second phase of the flight test through her Cerebral Connector. She had personally made an internal network connecting all personnel working on-board for easier communication and relaying commands with multiple clearance level.


    "How''s everything Sis Anya?" Zaleha entered the observation deck and greeted her.


    "Everything still follows the schedule. All parameters are within range. Don''t worry Zack. Make sure to stay alert during the second phase of our test run as we''re going to test the FTL-engine as what has been briefed before takeoff." Anya smiled at the scaredy-cat.


    For the last two years, she had bonded with this lady from their frequent interactions during the FTL-engine design and construction, on duty and off duty. In public, Zaleha looked unapproachable, a little boorish, and very crude. However, only a selected few could see Zaleha''s true self behind the facade of the ''Unpopular Witch'' title she gained. Zaleha''s personality was contradictory with her super-strength-super-speed powers. Anya knew that her friend has been born at the wrong time. If only she was born during chaotic eras, she would be one of the strongest contenders to vie for a kingdom. She would be a living, breathing war machine.


    Now, in this modern age, her friend was too afraid to touch anything. She had caused too many catastrophes inadvertently due to lack of control. The Witch Union spend tremendous amount of money to compensate the losses incurred by Zaleha''s clumsiness. Only now was she able to truly harness her power after two years of rigorous training under the Immortal King''s strict arrangements. She had become more confident with herself, but the old Zack was still there.


    After making a brief conversation, both ladies went on their separate ways; one to the main control room, while the other, to the FTL-engine room.


    ...


    Mr. On-lee was making the final check on the parameters exhibited on the screen in the control room when he received the ''OK'' signal from his direct superior, Major Anya. These few days working under her was a bliss. Due to his position as the First Mate of the spaceship, he had been in a close proximity to the four beautiful witches, which was nearly impossible under other circumstances. The beautiful and talented superior of his looked unapproachable with a stoic face all the time, however, she treated everyone warmly. A silver of emotion can be heard from her voice when she interacted with the other witches. He hid his fanboy heart deep inside and followed his superior''s orders to the letter every single time to show his devotion. Sometimes, he stealthily took some pictures of her to be admired.


    From the captain seat, he instructed the crew members to get ready to perform their first jump to the nearby planet.


    When Major Anya returned, he tactfully vacated the captain seat and stood one pace behind her before she continued giving commands to specific crew members. Prior to their first jump, she opened the network channel and announced to the whole crew on board, "This is the Captain of Hope speaking. We''re currently preparing for our first jump in fifteen minutes. All personnel, stop whatever you''re doing, be seated, wear your seatbelts, and brace for the best. The jump will last for five minutes. Until it is over, remain seated and pray for our success. Godspeed."


    Everyone on the spaceship has dubbed it as the hope of mankind, until the name stuck. The original name of the ship was just a series of numbers, since the real flight was not officially deployed yet. However, due to the gusto of the masses, Anya had taken an extra effort to file for a proper name for the test-spaceship, "Hope".


    The whole crew members consisted of researchers, engineers, staffers and military personnel stopped what they were doing and return to their designated seats with nervous hearts. Some started to close their eyes to pray, some was oblivious, as their minds were focused on their research, testing the validity of postulates after postulates.


    ...


    "In five, four, three, two, one. Return to first engine mode." The young aviator, Hannan, powered down the FTL-engine and switched to cruising mode with a nervous heart. However, her hands were firm and precise. She had practiced with a simulator for a thousand times to be selected as the first ever FTL-engine aviator, defeating seasoned pilots and her peers.


    "Check on all stats." Anya used her powers to sense the integrity of the spaceship as a whole while listening to her crew members'' reports.


    "Navigation, normal."


    "Shield, 92 % intact, three minutes recharge to full."


    "FTL-engine, normal."


    "Antimatter core, stable. Energy consumption, 0.32%"


    "First engine, normal. Auxiliary engine, normal."


    "Life support system, normal."


    "Power supply, 96.3%"


    "Planetary detection system, 79%. Mild error detected. Needed to be recalibrated to reach optimal condition."


    "Internal network, normal. Com-link with military base, disconnected during space jump, currently return to normal."


    A series of reports from the personnel in the control room reported their analysis one by one to Anya. Anya heaved a relieved sigh deep in her heart. With these parameters, she was confident that they could move out of their solar system with enough energy. However, the most important question was how far they need to go before they found a habitable planet to start their new home. Another thing to note was the ability to procure more antimatter in the future if they really wanted to start living in space to support endless space jumps.


    She planned to write a report to request for a tertiary energy reservoir in case of emergency, a specialist to find new sources of antimatter core stationed on every vessel, a harvester equipped with mining arms for future resources, and lastly a better system to detect a suitable planet for habitation. The system became slightly sluggish after the first jump, which was a problem if it persisted.


    Anya opened the internal channel and made an announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen, we''re successful with our first space jump. We''re in the vicinity of our neighboring planet. You can appreciate the sight at the observation deck on the top floor. You may unbuckle and continue with your current activities. The next test jump will occur most probably tomorrow at the same time. Please be prepared. Thank you."


    Everyone in the control room clapped happily. The mood of the whole spaceship was jubilant. It was shared with the personnel manning the control room in Neverwinter. Even Roland smiled happily once the news was relayed to him in the core of Sanctuary 3.


    The hardworking Anya excused herself to return to her own quarters to start on the report immediately. She knew she needed to work harder since she requested for so many things. If they started on designing her requests immediately, she could check and improve on them as soon as possible, which will save some time. And just maybe, once they return, the enhancements will be ready to be fitted to Hope.


    ...


    "That was quite exhilarating!" Vayu patted her weak heart. She thought they were going to die. The feelings she felt during the space jump could not be described. It felt like being strangled in a room devoid of sound but a low ringing tone. Unless it was just her imagination.


    "It truly is." Khora''s eyes sparkled. She could smell an elaborate business plan once they have gone through this catastrophe. What she needed to do was to stay friendly with the government and with the Witch Union to make sure she could utilize the technology later. She could see herself at the pinnacle of her career as a space-transport mogul not too far away in the future.


    They walked in together into their experimental chamber to continue with their experiments. The results were positive so far. However, they still didn''t realize the initial progressive collapse of one of the living-based independent space they created. The unstable space has been placed inside a very stable non-living storage-based independent space as one of the experimental parameters being tested. The alarm signal has been consumed by the chaotic movement of space inside before it even managed to send its signal out.


    The living independent space was meant to be used as living quarters after the beta design, The Rabbit Series, has shown positive results by the Interstellar Gate Research Group a few days prior to Hope''s maiden test flight. A few days of tests and adjustments had increased the stability of the space, now addressed as Quarters 1 to Quarters 30. They were still unfurnished fully but has been injected with air by Vayu to simulate a natural living environment.


    Seeing no alarms activated after the jump, Khora felt relieved. Her initial fear has been allayed. She was afraid the folding of space outside will somehow affect the artificial space inside. If that happens, their plans had to be scrapped. There was no way they could travel to outer space with hundreds and thousands of motherships. They don''t have that kind of resources and time. Just to be safe, she randomly checked fiveof the main white discs containing thirty Quarters each. She summoned three random Quarters from the first disc to the fifth disc and check the integrity of each space using her powers.


    However, unknown to her, she had missed the white disc that contained the problematic independent Quarters.


    ...


    Hope was ready for the second and final test jump before they return to Neverwinter Military Spaceport. Anya let her First Mate the honor of commandeering the second jump in history. She planned to head to the FTL-engine room to watch the progression of the Antimatter Core with Zaleha.


    Five minutes before the jump, On-lee''s voice was heard from everyone''s personal Cerebral Connector as she fastened her buckle beside her witch friend. "..Entering our second jump in five, four, three, two, one."


    She focused her powers on the internal workings of the FTL-engine, especially the circuits surrounding the Antimatter Core. She watched how the energy flow into the twin torus surrounding Hope as it interacted with the space around the structure, effectively bending the space outside smoothly. It was a wondrous sight to behold.


    A few seconds in, an emergency alarm resounded in her mind! She realized the physical alarm of the systems onboard were normal. It meant, only she herself could detect the minute anomaly happening currently.


    She switched her vision into an energy sensitive mode which she strictly used to check the efficacy of sensitive circuits while feeling extremely anxious. Anya obtained her specialized vision after her magic core mutated the second time during a sudden enlightenment after an extensive research. The vision was sensitive to the smallest amount of anomaly but would strain her mind to the maximum. At most, she could use it for five minutes a day. She regretted not checking the engine yesterday using her energy vision after the jump. She had trusted her primary powers and the machine''s analysis too much!


    In just a few moments, her eyes turned red and her temples were throbbing.


    Noticing the strange occurrence happening on her friend, Zaleha became worried. However, the tremors and sluggishness were so strong, she was unable to help Anya out. She could only inquire with her eyes.


    Anya ignored her friend''s inquiring eyes and did her utmost to detect the tiny energy leak resulted from the interactions of the anti-baryonic matter with the space outside. She unbuckled her seatbelt hurriedly, startling all the other engineers and technical staffs surrounding the both of them. She moved as fast as she could, following the flow of the energy and became alarmed when she saw the energy converged at Khora and Vayu''s experimental chamber on the other end of the spaceship.


    Once she entered the reinforced experimental chamber, she saw both Khora and Vayu unbuckling their seatbelts and ran into the core site of the experimental chamber, just a few steps before her. The Quarters were hovering in midair twitching while they distorted the space around them.


    Khora was sweating while she tried her best to contain the condition. She held her palms to the front and concentrated hard to disperse the distortion occurring around the Quarters. While the space healed slowly, the other Quarters started to twitch, indicating their instability. Suddenly an explosion happened when the distortion touched a certain circuit and gas-linebehind the reinforced experimental chamber .


    All three witches were thrown to the back. Vayu forced herself to get up as she bled heavily on her head and waved her hands to conjure up a carbon dioxide gassy space in an attempt to extinguish the fire from the explosion.


    Khora''s vision was already blurring as she shouted at Anya, "Exit the jump now! The Quarters couldn''t take it!" She groggily crawled forward and held her left hand up to try to salvage the situation by stabilizing all the independent spaces simultaneously.


    Anya''s head was still ringing as she tried her best to turn on the internal network up, "Emergency announcement from your Captain. We have a situation right now. Exit the jump immediately! Once out, all personnel must enter the nearest life pod immediately!"


    The jump was forcefully cut short by 30 seconds as Hope appeared at the vicinity of their home planet''s moon.


    "Arghhh, I can''t take it anymore! Save yourselves!" Khora fainted as she bled from all of her seven orifices.


    "Khora!" Vayu ran backwards to help her best friend while maintaining her powers.


    Without the support of Khora, the Quarters'' disintegration speed increased and even infected the stable non-living ones.


    A big explosion occurred as Anya was running towards the panicking Zaleha as she was rooted to her seat, still fully buckled and all. A small number of engineers and researchers had managed to enter the nearest emergency life pods, but most of them were still running to an empty one.


    Everyone and everything were engulfed in flames as Hope shattered into smithereens.


    --------------------------------------------


    "Tut-tut-tut


    Tut - tut - tut


    Tut-tut-tut"


    A low beeping sound waken Anya up in the middle of a torn up spaceship with debris cluttering everywhere. She noticed the repetitive call-for-help code that has been drilled into her during her academy years and the corresponding blinking red lights following the rhythm of the beepings.


    Her earlobes were shining and emitting a gentle ray as she was encased in a whitish translucent pod. She was actually moving slowly towards Neverwinter airspace by an illusory figure of a woman she had never met before. She tried hard to move her head to look for her friends and her crew members.


    Not far from her, she saw her First Mate, On-lee; at least what''s left of him after the explosion. He had a worried look on his frozen up face in her direction. She knew her subordinate must''ve ran towards her in an attempt to save her. He didn''t know she had the life-saving earrings. Her heart stirred in deep sadness; she knew her subordinate liked her as his admiration towards her shone as bright as day from his eyes when he gazed at her. If only he listened to her command.. Her personal emergency life pod was integrated to the captain''s seat. He would''ve survived if he just activated it. Tears leaked from her eyes but they disappeared as they were mixed into the nutrient solution with the lifepod.


    Slowly, the illusory woman gathered her comrades from the Witch Union and descended slowly. She tried to tell her that there were still some survivors, but the translucent pod was soundproof. She could see a number of crew members inside emergency life pods blasted away from the current location due to the power of the explosion. She needed to do something!


    She channeled her last remaining energy and directly send a mechanical message towards Neverwinter military base.


    "Hope is gone. Surviving crew members scattered in emergency life pods. Request for assistance."


    She blacked out.


    ...


    A year of following the illusory angelic entity was extremely uneventful for Zenti and co. He didn''t know the creature''s lair was so far away. Many times, he had planned to abscond the mission but he still persisted. Partly because he was curious, partly because there was no further instruction from his douchebag employer.


    [Once we got a new case, we''ll immediately turn around. Before that, just follow the angel.] He kept on repeating the same sentences in his mind for the n-th time.


    The ''angel'' was very resolute. She had maintained the same course and moved nonstop. Zenti was wondering why it didn''t perform any hyperjumps to shorten her travelling. Most spacebeast have the ability to perform spacejumps or at least has the ability to move at extremely high speed. Is she sightseeing or something?


    A sudden request for help was transmitted to his ship alerted him. It even used the age old S.O.S system originated from aeons ago. Zenti sped up his spacecraft as he was a planet away from the entity to maintain their stealth.


    Once his view was unobstructed, he saw the debris of a spaceship in front of him with lifeless humans floating everywhere. The ''angel'' went into the debris and dragged out four life pod-like things which was emitting the S.O.S. signal.


    At that moment, Zenti''s spacecraft detected a video message. A heavily wounded woman with silver hair and irises was saying something with a distressed looked but with no sound. However, an electronic message was embeddened at the bottom of the video. Most probably, it was a repeat of what the woman was saying. He tried to match the language to all language present in the empire''s server but couldn''t decipher what was being said.


    "We need to save the girl." His wingman said.


    "I think the angel is saving them." Zenti countered. "Let''s just watch first."


    Suddenly, someone fired at the ''angel''. It was one of his buddies at the back.


    "What are you doing?! Now that creature knows we''re here!"


    "Sorry boss! The girls are human. Let''s save them ourselves first. I think this planet might be the lair of that angel. Save the girl, destroy the creature. Simple and sweet ait?"


    Zenti was speechless with the dumbass''s opinion! It was obvious as day that the creature might be connected to the girls in the life pods! Now they were considered enemies!


    ...


    Neverwinter military base had received the distress signal cum message from Major Anya Stratosky. They immediately contacted the Witch Union for a team of Combat Witches which has the ability of flight led by Extraordinaries, before prepping the second dreadnought for launch into space to save the other crew members. Inside the dreadnought was a small team of fighter jets on standby which would assist as necessary.


    The witches were equipped with metallic Recombinant Suits which has the ability to assist for life support in space and defense. The only downside was the suits were not equipped with a flying ability yet and was just a beta version, hence, only witches with the ability of flight could help in the rescue efforts.


    Roland had stealthily slipped in a number of WIA agents to assist in the search and rescue. Especially the four main witches, they were the main pillar of hope for the survival of the people!


    ...


    Shantelle was eager for some action as she sped off in formation with the other nineteen witches while wearing the brand new Recombinant Suits. Since she had the fastest flying ability, she led the formation to immediately enter the airspace above Neverwinter when she saw the catastrophe in front of her eyes!


    Isn''t that their Elder Witch Alethea which was on an extended mission? Their leader was evading a series of bombardments from an unknown spacecraft!


    "Report! An unknown spacecraft detected! It is judged as hostile! It is attacking the witches from the Witch Union!" She spoke rapidly while prepping her laser-based powershot gauntlets. All witches joined hands and started prepping their own gauntlets. They had not brought along any other artillery since it was supposed to be a rescue mission of Hope''s surviving crew members.


    In midair, six fighter jet were deployed from the second spaceship as it penetrated the planet''s air barrier. They immediately attacked the foreign spacecraft while it was distracted by half of the combat witches'' aerial attacks.


    Another half of the witches took over the four translucent white lifepods from the Elder Witch and moved them immediately into the cruising dreadnought. Although some of them didn''t know who the witch might be, they believe she must be affiliated with Graycastle. After that, they haphazardly scoured the nearby region for life signals and save the rest of the emergency life pods. They worked extremely fast and efficient.


    ...


    Zenti was baffled by the retaliation from the planet''s indigenous community. It turned out these humans were more advance than he though! These people had turned a blind eye towards the angel apparition and directly engaged them without fear. He felt a slight respect towards their courageousness.


    Truly, all the attacks had been absorbed by their energy shield. Zenti was still in a dilemma on how to deal with these indigenous humans of the planet. It seemed that the ladies were in powersuits, while the men were in fighter jets. The distinction was pretty puzzling. He needed to make them stop. However, he didn''t know how to communicate with them as their language was not in the database of the empire.


    The presence of these indigenous people meant that the company had blatantly breached the Empire''s rule! The company shouldn''t harvest the energy source of a solar system with intelligent beings present on one of the planets.


    He kept repeating the same message of peace into all open communication link to start on negotiation while trying his best to stop his hot blooded mates from retaliating.


    After a few minutes, he heard a reply in perfect old English, an ancient royal language popularized by the Empire, "We heard you loud and clear. This is Roland Wimbledon, the representative of this nation."


    Zenti heaved a sigh of relief, "I am Zenti, the captain of Ballista Mercenary Group."


    ....

 29 Unlikely Cooperation amidst Dissolution of Neverwinter’s Forces

    Tralish Zod was walking a few paces behind Lady Pasha as she was talking seriously with Senior Elder Wentilakh. They were discussing something that seemed important, however it was none of his concern.


    Previously, Tralish was extremely dissatisfied with the Council''s arrangement to make him the attendant of the witch that he brought back two years ago.


    Upon her arrival, everyone was avoiding the witch like a plague, especially the senior Wise Ones. However, since they were very interested with the knowledge from the witches'' side regarding the eventual death of the Light of Life shining above their heads, they eventually managed to overcome their hatred. Their esteemed Seer had predicted the demise of the world as early as a thousand years ago. Hence, they had worked towards their own salvation ever since.


    The previous War of Divine Will had reduced their numbers greatly; the aged old tradition of chivalrousness had rendered almost all of their strongest warriors walking to their deaths, leaving only a scant number of old men, women and little babes. Only due to the benevolence of the human Leader of the Witches'' Nation that they were spared. The details were written in their Holy Ancestral Records which was a compulsory course for every child before they could embrace the path of Warriors.


    Hence, once these Senior Elders and Wise Ones finally were convinced enough to open and read the contents of the letter delivered by the shrewd witch, they soon realized, the letter bore the name of the benevolent human Leader of the Witches, Roland Wimbledon!


    They had not forgotten the life debt they owed to this immortal being. No one in the tribe believed that the human Leader was a human at all anymore. He must be the first man wielding the power of magic, the legendary Warlock whispered in legends.


    Two years of attending the witch made Tralish numb. Two years of interaction had made him understand the witch in front of him. She was firm, authoritative, highly discipline, and charismatic; an ideal leader. However, somehow, she could stay humble with a high level of patience, not brushing off another people''s opinion. Secretly, he was in awe with her capability to connect with his people. He had learnt a lot from observing her. In some way, it was a boon for him.


    Furthermore, nobody except him knew Lady Pasha''s personal strength. Two weeks of immobility from Tralish''s previous grave injuries had made him know what true strength means. The witch had used several means of negotiation to convince him, but he tried his best to remain stubborn.


    Until he was whipped to kingdom come.


    It was the most embarrassing moment of his life which he vowed not to ever expose it to others.


    He has then challenged the witch numerous times along their journey towards the Demonic Settlement. Every time, he faced defeat after defeat. What made Tralish helpless the most was how easy the Elder Witch defeated him. Even without using the special armor. He wondered how their strength gap could be so big.


    The last time, he managed to hurt Celine because he had sucker-punched her while her armor was at a critical condition. Additionally, Celine had not personally participated in any training or field missions after she lose her first body during seclusion after of the Third Divine Will War, like all of the other Taquila Witches. Even after she had been given a customized body later, she had still chosen the research route. She was not considered a true combat witch per se.


    Tralish heaved an internal sigh as he observed how the two unlikely enemies chatted animatedly.


    [At least they''re not at each other''s throats anymore.] He shrugged.


    ...


    Wentilakh was intrigued with the latest news relayed by Lady Pasha to him. She just updated him about the latest technological happenings in Neverwinter, mainly pertaining the news of the upcoming test flight of the space vessel using the specialized modified Antimatter Core they had discussed for so long. Both of them realized their own nation had grown following different routes; the Witches embraced technology, while the Demons followed the path of alchemy and transmutation.


    From arch-nemesis to friends with benefits; Wentilakh lamented on how such a contrasting change could happen. He hoped that they will not be cursed by their forefathers.


    The collaboration had benefited both species greatly despite the opposition of the traditionalists. Some old men were bound to be too stubborn. However, as a man that loved his people, he knew old resentment needed to be cast aside. The time of the end of the world predicted by the esteemed late Seer was approaching and they needed all the help that they can get. Being insufferably arrogant would not help saving anyone.


    Thinking about this, Wentilakh swallowed his pride and bowed with humility, "Lady Pasha, after listening to the information from the Graycastle''s side, this old man would like to shamelessly request for a favor from you."


    "Speak your heart''s content." the Elder Witch smiled warmly.


    She was at the level of an ancestor for these people, hence she treated them like how an elder would to a younger generation. Once stripping off the stigma of racial difference, she found that these ''demons'' were not demonic at all. They were chivalrous, stayed true to their feelings and highly disciplined. Pasha had an extremely good impression of the researcher before her; unlike the impudent child who attended her day in, day out.


    "This humble old one would like to request for access to the Antimatter Core Research. We have worked tirelessly with the Xincor mineral but to no avail. Hopefully, the research can give some light to the Xincor mineral research." He explained himself shamefully. Xincor was the name coined for the mysterious black mineral mined from the Dark Elves'' underground territory.


    "I though you would never ask." The Elder Witch''s response startled the Senior Elder greatly.


    "What do you mean?" He really hoped that Lady Pasha would not misunderstand his intention. Requesting a revolutionary research material was akin to asking for one''s personal coffers. However, he needed to touch the material to know whether it was the missing puzzle to the enigma shrouding their Salvation Lake.


    "You may. But with a condition. Follow me to Neverwinter."


    .....


    The presence of an alien spacecraft at the airspace above Neverwinter had rang alarm bells in the hearts of the officials.


    It signifies the presence of foreign entities with the ability exceeding the current might of Graycastle. King Azul had a hard time appeasing the frightened officials as he kept on pulling the reins of the different factions inside the City Halls. However, two main factions persisted, the military-based and the pacifists. The failure of the Quarters was a big blow to everyone as that was their only salvation for migration. Hence, the rise of the military faction was gaining power since the news about a powerful enemy from outer space became prevalent.


    Away from all the noise, Roland was calmly pouring a cup of coffee for Zenti in the canteen of Sanctuary 3. The canteen was made into a cafe-like environment with an extensive range of food purchased from the multiple vending machines one side of the walls. A soothing background jazz were even played to enhance the mood of the atmosphere. While he was pouring the coffee, he glanced at the hovering palm-sized projection from his personal VIRCOFF. It was the chaotic scene at the empire-wide conference led by the current King of Graycastle, King Azul.


    Roland pulled his gaze away and inquired lightly, "Sugar or milk?"


    "Milk, no sugar." Zenti was in awe. The leader of the nation was personally preparing coffee for him with a lighthearted chuckle, just like when a friendly host warmly accompanying an old friend. No trace of arrogance or nobility was seen in the man''s demeanor. He was very calm and exuded a charming personality. His long gray hair was tied at the nape of his neck as it was placed neatly over the shoulder. Overall, he exuded a scholarly vibe. Zenti judged that the man in front of him to be about late thirties or early forties; an awfully young age to be a leader to represent the voice for the whole planet. Little did he knew the man in front of him existed even before the Empire started colonizing foreign planets.


    Zenti had observed the surroundings while he entered the indoor hall. It was very retro! He had seen these kinds of environment in virtual simulations during his younger days before he enlisted and finally retired early. The most important thing was, this cafe was teeming with beautiful ladies left and right! He pitied his other teammates for not being able to tag along. They were now being detained by a few sterns-looking powerful ladies with strange abilities in Neverwinter.


    Holding the cup of porcelain white china as gentle as he could, he sipped the coffee presented to him by the leader of the nation opposite him. "Mmm... good coffee." He closed his eyes to savor the feeling. It has been a long time he didn''t get to taste real food. All they had was nutrient tablets of varying flavors. Good food was extremely pricey and could only be purchased with Empire Credits, unless you grow your own. As mercenaries, they have no qualms taking pills day in day out. They only remembered to stock up on booze.


    "Have some pastries together." The immortal king felt amused observing the mercenary''s antics while pushing forward the plate containing delicate looking palm sized pastries.


    Zenti made a blissful expression after munching a few of the delicate-looking macaroons, muffins and scones before he realized he had probably behaved in an unfitting manner in front of local royalty. He coughed lightly to cover his embarrassment. "Em, Your Majesty, I presumed? Apologies. I had not eaten proper food for quite some time."


    "No problem at all."


    Both trailed their gazes towards the ongoing video feed on the table as loud cursings and throwing of papers were happening. "Is it alright for you not to be present?"


    After a deep sigh, Roland explained, "I''m not directly governing the empire. Let the younger generation deal with this. If not, they won''t grow. Truly, the younger ones lack true grit nowadays. That is the price one must pay with prolonged peace."


    Zenti was dumbfounded with Roland''s comments. The way he worded it made it sounded like he was a very senior ruler lamenting the lack of substance in the younger generations. "How long have you abdicated the throne for your brother? It sounded like it has been a very long time ago." Zenti jested lightly to cover his awkwardness.


    Roland smiled mysteriously, "I''m older than you think."


    ...


    Zenti discussed with Roland for four hours, explaining about himself, his work, and about the company which hired his team. He adamantly stressed that the Empire had placed a certain standard for harvesting energy, at which when a life form was found on a certain planet linking to the star as part as its solar system, the star would be banned from being harvested. Hence, before a certain company could start mining, they needed to send over an investigation team to check the planets within the star''s vicinity. Then, a permit would be given for them to start harvesting.


    However, many unscrupulous companies had ignored the rules set by the empire since the universe was extremely vast. Besides that, there was no lack of rampant bribery happening within the Empire''s administration. Only when a report was made will the Empire dispatched law enforcers to stop the company involved from continuing its pursuit since taking the power source of the solar system effectively rendered all the planets dead.


    Roland was extremely interested with the Empire repeatedly spoken by Zenti. Upon request, he also explained briefly about the history of the empire. It started from a single planet known as Earth, merely 60 years after Roland''s transmigration, the Earth dwellers had succeeded in reaching Mars, their neighboring planet. After that, a mere hundred years later, the first manned deep space exploration team successfully crossed the galaxy to reach a new habitable planet. Another hundred years later, they started building space cities and colonizing the nearby planets after the completion of a terraforming technology. Now, they had formed a big empire known as Earth-Human-Alliance Empire, as a commemoration for remembering their roots.


    Roland was deeply touched by the advancement of mankind. His eyes blurred a little, as he was drowned in a moment of nostalgia. It has been too long.


    "How far is the main administration of the so called Empire? Will it be possible for your team to be the whistle blower?" He had some hope in his heart. No matter what, the planet he was standing at was very endearing to him. The remains of his family, descendants, and friends were all here. He had a deep attachment and belonging toward this planet. If possible, he wanted to save the planet dearly.


    Noticing the sovereign''s calm yet melancholic mood, he tried to be truthful. He knew lying won''t make things better, "Unfortunately, it is too far, Your Majesty. With the latest hyperjump technology we currently have, we still need more than three years to reach to the main sector where the Empire''s central administration is located. The officials need the same amount of time to come over after applying for an injunction for the aboriginals'' behalf, as was stated by a clause for universal human rights. After all the paperworks are over, plus the time needed to travel over here, this planet would''ve died out. The problem is, Your Majesty, the location of this planet is extremely far from the central region, at the fringe of the exploration loop."


    Roland tapped the cafe''s table while thinking deeply after saying, "Do you have an independent space technology?"


    "Yes, we have, although only at a beginner''s level. It is known as pocket suitcase."


    "Is it stable during a hyperjump?"


    "Yes, it is."


    "Is it possible to be habitable?"


    Zenti understood Roland''s intention, "It is not tested. As I say before, it is in an infantile stage. The largest space is the size of a warehouse. However, it is strictly to keep stuff inside only, like a convenient suitcase. We only have the size five times five cubic meters in size as it was extremely expensive."


    "Understood. Lend me your pocket suitcase and your spacecraft for us to study for a while. There will be two experts who will learn the inner workings of the items in question after this. Once the study is over, please send some of your men over to the Earth-Human-Alliance Empire''s Central Administration. Even if this planet finally blows up, we will not let them go. I will send over a representative to represent our homeland together with your men." Roland calmly stated his mind.


    Zenti was skeptical with the technological prowess of the local government on this planet. However, he knew they were in the wrong in the first place. Hence, he will not question the soverign''s request for researching the Empire''s current technology. He understood Roland''s predicament; if he was the one who stayed here, he would try all options available to save his home planet too. He will do whatever he can to help these fellow humans. Moreover, it was obvious that this sovereign have ties with their Empire, although it is not known how he was able to travel alone to this uncharted water.


    Zenti started to ask about the current Graycastle Empire, the population, the situation of the planet, et cetera. As Roland explained briefly how the empire started, and what kind of people inhabited the planet, Zenti''s eyes were getting rounder and rounder.


    It was his first time learning about witches and their systematic magic advancement with the help of knowledge enlightenment. He now understood why the ladies wore power suits, and the men were in aircrafts! The power suits didn''t grant them the ability to fly, they themselves do! He was extremely in awe, and at the same time felt extremely guilty. This civilization was not just advanced, they were special!


    Roland gifted a simple VIRCOFF to Zenti after he adjusted the parameters of the device. "In here, there''s more information about this planet. Download it to your spacecraft and deliver it to the Empire''s Central Administration for me. It is nothing confidential. Even you and your team can go through the data. It''s proof of how long our nation existed, and the Company''s obvious breach of the law. It also equipped with a translation device. Hence, it will translate our language to English in real time. It will help you tremendously when interacting with the others."


    As Roland helped attached the external fixture on Zenti''s left ear, a melodious voice filled with contempt resounded behind Zenti''s back. "Hmph! Your Highness, permission to kill this man!"


    As he turned around, he saw the ''angel'' they followed for over a year, with a tangible body this time, approaching their table. Her long wavy hair was as dark as night, tumbling down to her waist, contrasting with her porcelain white skin, enhancing the beautiful almond irises. At the moment, Zenti experienced an increased heart rate and a fluttering feeling inside the pit of his stomach. [What did it mean?] He might have eaten too many pastries today to get so ill suddenly.


    "Ma''am, we''re extremely sorry. It is just a misunderstanding. Currently, my team and I do not represent the people destroying the star." He tried his best to apologize. He was glad he decided to follow this lady back to her planet. If not, he won''t know anything. The beatings of his heart increased a notch again until an alarm was blaring on his regulator watch. He immediately switched it off embarrassingly and consumed a tablet to lower his heart rate. [What is wrong with me?!]


    "Alethea, please mind your manners." Roland was helpless with Alethea''s sudden outburst. They still needed the help of the man in front of them, so he needed to rephrase his words mindfully. If the man switched sides, nothing will be achieved. Alethea had always been headstrong and extremely protective towards her own. To her, all external race or species were enemies. He understood how Alethea think. He had also read up the detailed report sent to him last night by different parties.


    "But, Your Majesty, he''s the enemy! We should suck out all the information form his mind and attack the power behind him before anything else! We may not even need to migrate if we succeeded. If we don''t, at least we''ll die trying!" Behind her, a group of witches were ready to apprehend Zenti.


    "What is this folly, Alethea? Have I not made the right decision all this while? Trust in me as you usually do." Roland showed a grim expression. He knew the witch was in a deep rage. In her eyes, any foreign entities should be extinguished fully to prevent unwanted retaliation. However, only he knew that they did not have that level of power yet. Hence, only with negotiation and continuous cooperation could something be done about it. Granted it''ll take a longer time, but the chances of success will be way higher. He didn''t want his subjects to die a dog''s death.


    The bustling canteen were quiet all of a sudden as all eyes turned in the direction of the confrontation. The tension in the air was thick. Alethea was extremely dissatisfied with Roland''s opposition.


    After a prolonged silence between them, Alethea scoffed, "I don''t need to be here anymore! From here onwards, I renounce my position as the Elder Witch of this organization! Whoever wanted to follow me, let''s leave!"


    Alethea turned around angrily. As she took her first step, an alarm blaring in the canteen hall and an announcement were heard. "Enemy approaching on Neverwinter airspace. Immediate action needed. Neverwinter requesting backup!"


    Her wrathful gaze fall on Zenti''s guilty expression. "I told you he''s not worth to be defended. I''m right all along. This is not over! Agents, suit up!"


    ...


    A group of twenty spacecrafts appeared above the royal city of Neverwinter and started bombarding without regard with high energy cannons. As the city itself was equipped with a quadruple shield maintained by four powerful Extraordinaires led by the Queen of Graycastle herself, it was strong enough to withstand the bombardments. Hence, the citizens inside were safe from harm at the moment.


    However, the massive influx of refugees, city officials maintain the peace and merchants entering Neverwinter had been reduced to meat pastes. Total annihilation of the nearby towns was evident. The Graycastle empire sunk in total chaos as the survivors outside tried their hardest to enter the protected region.


    King Azul led twenty regiments of mortal armies under his wings on aircraft fights before the combat witches equipped with Recombinant Suits could enter the fray. However, due to their advanced equipment as compared to Graycastle army, they were cut down like cabbages. King Azul died in action while trying to save his comrades. His Queen wept tears while maintaining the shield below. Once the combat witches entered the fray, they had managed to exterminate the alien spacecrafts.


    Zenti observed the fight with trembling hands, he knew it was his fault. The company must have detected the advanced lifeform on this planet from his ship''s automatic live-feed. He had disconnected them too late. He knew they would want to exterminate the aboriginals of the planet to prevent from unwanted problems. He never thought they would arrive so soon! It had only been less than 36 hours since his arrival. He had yet to brief Roland about this matter.


    However, to his amazement, the witches'' side was currently winning with ease. He could see elemental blasts rendering spacecrafts falling from the sky, which was then snapped to two by scary-looking carnivorous trees that appeared out of nowhere. Lightning attacks mixed with blizzard with sharpened ice stakes the size of buildings flew left and right. Someone was even controlling the earth as golems made from mud threw extremely large stones at the spacecrafts. In the midst of it all, Alethea stood proudly and joined the attack at the forefront as vanguard. She even managed to save several soldiers along the way. Zenti''s heart moved again as he saw how dazzling the woman could be. He had yet to know that he had helplessly fallen in love with the witch.


    ...


    Once the fight was over, Alethea did not return to Sanctuary 3.


    Alethea had decided to lead the military faction to plan up for an all out attack with the foreign aliens. Half of WIA exposed themselves and joined Alethea''s faction. The pacifists naturally sided with the Immortal King. However, the research faction had stayed neutral and assisted both sides. More human capital was drafted to join the research team and the army. Each faction dealt their own hand as they didn''t see eye to eye anymore. Without the presence of King Azul to mediate between the two factions, they had not been able to reconcile.


    The military faction had long lost hope for survival; they now focused on retaliation and they trained new recruits and witches to be competent in space fights. Spacecrafts were made in the thousands by using Anya''s dreadnought template while Recombinant suits with flight abilities were made en masse.


    Meanwhile, the pacifist''s faction still held the Immortal King in high regard, believing him totally. After all he was the father of the Empire for the longest time. They leaned towards the crown princess exploration team''s success. Roland had disseminated the information about the interstellar gate portal''s existence to appease the masses and not letting them loose hope.


    Like that, slowly, the ordinary citizen packed up and entered the living Quarters inside the prepared bunkers with hope in their hearts.


    ...


    Newton was busy testing the black mineral in his lab until he heard the door being open. He didn''t stop his work as it could jeopardized the ongoing test result. He had not realized the audible gasps of his research assistants.


    "The Xincor mineral needed more quantity than that to show its affinity towards the bombarding kinetic energy. You need to add about 0.5 more grams to see the result you wanted." A deep elderly voice resounded by his ears with a thick weird accent.


    "I though so. However, we only have this much." Newton exasperatedly replied as he turned around with the swiveling stool he''s sitting on. He was so shocked his heart nearly gave out.


    In front of him, a demon shrouded in a gray colored robe extend his hands, "Wentilakh. I''ve heard so much about you, Newton. A pleasure."


    Newton popped in a pill inside his mouth as he gathered his courage. Reading about it when he was a mere babe didn''t make his heart ready to meet one personally. He only had a limited contact from the Demon side during the early stages of the Antimatter Core development. Remembering Wentilakh''s comment on his work, he had forgotten his fear as he genuinely smiled, "The pleasure is mine. The Gods had answered my prayers in the form of your presence, Senior Wentilakh." He grabbed Wentilakh''s extended hand and shook it warmly.


    "I have so many things to clarify with you." He spoke excitedly with hope in his eyes.


    "Me too, me too." Wentilakh replied warmly.


    Pasha and Roland only smiled as they saw the two senior researchers of differing race hit it off so well. They retreated from the specialized laboratory and walked together.


    "You''ve worked hard. Thank you, Pasha."


    "It is my duty, Your Highness."


    ...

 30 Powering the Ancient Artifact Gate

    A red signal continuously beeped it was switched off calmly. A silver-haired man then tapped the screen in front of him rapidly with a stoic expression plastered on his face. Although he had an unspeakable elegance with every move he made, it was blemished by the arrogance displayed on his young facial features. His skin was so white, it was slightly translucent. His forehead bore a small silver colored triangle mark, just slightly below his middle hairline. It was the mark of a high class citizen of the Empire, the ''Anthenians''.


    He was feeling unhappy since someone still dared to disturb him while he was resting in his living quarters. He had explicitly sent down an order not to be disturbed. Scrunching his brow slightly, he read through the notice from the board of directors of his company, stating that a situation had occurred which needed his immediate attention. Feeling irritated, he walked towards the exit and sit inside the driver-less Maglev hover car before it automatically sped off towards the conference room.


    ...


    "We must destroy that planet first!"


    "What happens if the Empire knows about it? It''s not a good way out!"


    "What if we just hastened the harvesting time?"


    "Who bribed the officials from the sector registry?! How much did you pay? Is it enough?!"


    The young man entered the conference room silently from the side door as he observed the unsightly old men bickering with each other, unable to come up with a decision. Since the entrance was rather obscured, the others didn''t notice his presence. He watched every one of the so called ''directors'' as he lamented on their incompetency.


    He walked in directly and finally sat at the top most seat. As every eye noticed his presence, they were silenced into servitude.


    "Let the Energy Harvesting Wheel performed at its optimal parameters. Do not adjust anything to hasten its progress.I don''t want the quality of the star energy ore to reduce at all. When the critical phase is finally over, notify me. I will send over a battalion from my personal army. It won''t be too late to destroy any surviving indigenous life form left." His voice was absolute, carrying a command, rather than a suggestion.


    An old man with a full beard and a hard stare countered, "Young Master Wales, I heard the first mercenary team was MIA while the second backup surveyor''s team was wiped out within ten minutes. This shows that the indigenous people were quite capable. From my calculation, the Wheel needs about a year to fully absorbed the harmful rays and convert them to energy before the condensation of the Star Energy Ore will take place. Is it a good move to give them that much time? What if some survivors manage to escape? Who will be responsible for it?" In his mind, he never entertained the thoughts that the indigenous people could possibly retaliate.


    The young man looked at the old prune with full of disdain, "I will be responsible. Based on the size of the galaxy, one year is not enough for them to escape. Follow my words and be done with it. I will handle the internal parts with the Empire''s administration using the power behind the Estrella Conglomerate. I will make them forget that the obscure sector even existed." To him, only the amount and quality of energy harvested mattered.In his mind, the indigenous life forms were not even worth his time. However, little that he knew that time will prove how wrong he was in the future.


    One thing was extremely clear, no one, including the ''young master'', had ever suggested on helping the ''aboriginals'', as they had been viewed to be less than life stock, unfitting to be seen for a second glance. They treated them as one will treat houseflies hovering over a delicious steak; annoying, yet not harmful.


    ...


    "Bless Miss Loralyne. The right answer had always been here in our front of our own eyes." Newton shook his head sadly when he remembered about the pitiful girl. He heard that the bright girl was seriously injured while investigating the past to help to identify the methods to use the so called ''gate''. After working together with Wentilakh for a few months researching the records, they have finally concluded that the two items needed to power up both Graycastle''s ''Interstellar Gate'' and Demonic Settlement''s Salvation Lake were one and the same.


    Previously, aided by Miss Lora''s selfless sacrifice, Newton was able to notice the likeness of the Xincor mineral for one of the components needed to power up the gates. Hence, he had renewed his work on the black mineral tirelessly towards that end. Unfortunately, the amount of mineral in his hand was so scarce, the tests he conducted kept on giving ambiguous results with no significant values. The presence of Wentilakh had truly remedied the situation. Together, they had finally confirmed the usage of the illusive mineral. The properties of the Xincor mineral was 95% similar to the properties of the first compound used by the Giant race to power up their ''Gates''.


    The problem was identifying the second compound. After scouring every single naturally-occurring element present, both the humans and the demons weren''t able to find a compatible one. Hence, with Wentilakh''s suggestion, they tried testing the synthesized Antimatter after a few months of readjustments and testing.


    "This is it. Your theory was right all along, Wentilakh." Newton was so excited at this moment. Wentilakh was also feeling extremely emotional. Although he was putting a front to his colleague, he was not 100% sure. Only when their experiment shows result then he can breathe easily. With this finding, they are one step closer towards the salvation of both races.


    ...


    Frieda twirled her left wheat-colored pigtail while fidgeting a little. It was her first time seeing a real Demon. However, deep in her heart, she felt that the grandpa demon looked quite cute, in some sense. It''s because the grandpa has cute whiskers adorning his wrinkled gray skin. The hair was white and long, which reminded her of beautiful horse mane. In a way, this grandpa must''ve been a really cute person when he was younger. Her eyes were bright as she mentally conjured up a few valiant pictures of the grandpa in her mind while smiling sweetly.


    Wentilakh observed the little witch''s facial expression with amusement. Her light blue eyes were bright, devoid of stigma. They were only filled with curiosity and a slight liking, which puzzled him a little.


    "Is this Frieda?" He patted the little loli''s head. "What a cute little one." Wentilakh lamented his current position. He was praising a little blushing witch. Whereas not long ago, these witches were nightmares in precautionary tales of his tribe. Life was really full of surprises.


    Newton smiled at the duo''s antics. To him, Wentilakh was already a dear friend. They have so much in common, it was like they were long lost brothers. Additionally, Wentilakh was an extremely farsighted, competent researcher, with incredible vision. In his heart, he admired his new colleague deeply. "Hold on to this tightly, little Frieda. Send them to Princess Linneia. Make sure she gets it and let her open the Cerebral Connector''s channel in real-time when they start to test it."


    "Will do, Professor Grandpa." Frieda answered cutely.


    The two seniors watched as the little witch dissipated into thin air.


    "I hope it''ll work out as we wanted." Newton said worriedly.


    "I''m sure it''ll be." Wentilakh encouraged his new colleague cum friend.


    ...


    "Are you guys ready?" Linneia looked at her companions seriously one by one. Beside her, Raksha with Solstis nodded. On her left, Melati and little Frieda acknowledged her question. Behind them, ten of the best military personnel were selected to join their first human trial test on the functionality of the gate. All of them were equipped by new Recombinant Suits brought back from Neverwinter by Frieda. These suits were equipped with life function and flight besides basic shield and artillery. They were the newest version developed by the Immortal King. The last version was still not equipped with a flying function before. That was why only witches with flying abilities were required during the previous battle on Neverwinter airspace.


    Linneia took a short while and focused her breathing while placing her right hand over her heart. Deep down, she was extremely nervous, but no trace of emotion could be observed on her beautiful face. She knew they were entering the unknown. There was no time to test slowly. Moreover, the amount of the synthesized Antimatter was limited. From prior testing, they found that as long as the ''Gate'' connected, both materials will be consumed. There was no chance to reuse even if the ''gate'' was open for a short second or for an hour. They also found out that the test animal that they send across with a rope can be pull back without any damage or mutation. They have wasted the fourth Xincor mineral and Antimatter for this. Right now, they only have six each.


    Linneia turned to Professor Rogers and gave him the okay signal.


    Professor Roger''s instructed the researcher to prep the stone stele. As they added the right amount of Xincor mineral, the yellow light soared to the top part of the stele. The circular structure started to emit a wave-like magnetic energy. They then used a special metallic holder to place one of the Antimatter brought back by Frieda.


    A green light soared from the second stone stele. After that, one of the researchers traced the writings on the platform following the images that they have seen in the past recording. All the cryptic words lit up one by one after being traced.


    A wave-like florescent blue ripples appeared at the center of the circular gigantic stone ''gate''.


    Linneia took a deep breath and started climbing the steep levitating stone stairs with the assistance of the Recombinant suit, followed by her companions.


    All of them disappeared as they entered the wave-like blue ripples.


    Professor Rogers took a deep breath. With the absence of the crown princess and the few core members from the Witches Union, he had been tasked to head the exploration group. He will have the final say in any matters concerning the Ancient Artifact Gate after this. However, Professor Rogers was feeling a sense of foreboding. Feeling puzzled, he tried his best to brush it off and tried to stay positive.


    He gripped his hands tightly and started praying to the Gods as he knew that they were running out of time.


    [Everything depends on you now, Princess. Please be safe. Please save us¡­.]

 31 The Rise of the Pacifist Faction

    Newton and Wentilakh was observing the ancient gate''s mechanism with apprehension through the real-time connection when a sudden loud noise outside the laboratories were heard. An assistant entered the laboratory in a hurry with a nervous look on his pale face, "Professors, please evacuate! The military faction is storming our institute! They''re demanding to hand over Professor Wentilakh and his accompanying attendants! Currently they have breached the H sector!" He wiped the sweat on his brows in worry.


    A few months of spending time with Wentilakh had made all of the researchers casting their stigma aside and embraced change for the sake of technology advancement. Currently everyone only had extreme respect and reverence for the Senior Elder Demon. Everyone addressed the Senior Elder Demon with ''Professor'', the highest rank one would have once one achieve the pinnacle of research related field.


    Newton coolly downloaded all his current research findings for safekeeping before he took a calm step towards an obscure side of the laboratory and gestured Wentilakh to follow him. "I''ve been prepared for this day to come. Our position had always been quite sensitive; assisting both sides. Some people from both sides were not happy with this development and would like to tip the balance in the end. Follow me, Wentilakh. That is if you trusted me enough." Newton smiled to his colleague without a hint of malice.


    Wentilakh took a few seconds to observe his new friend''s before releasing a helpless sigh. "I trust you, Newton." He gestured for his three attendants to follow him into the tunnel behind the obscured door opened by Newton. To show his sincerity, Newton lead the way into the depth of the darkness. The secret door was closed and sealed before the obscured laboratory wall returned to normal. Newton''s assistants evacuated the room and dispersed in different directions to confuse the incoming intruders.


    ...


    "Have you secured the demons?! We need to make sure all of the information didn''t reach their side!" Alethea raised her voice when she saw the ugly look the military official was giving. She had a bad feeling about this. It was supposed to be an easy mission. They have been waiting for the breakthrough of the research before stepping in to apprehend the demons since they won''t be of any use after this.


    "Madam Alethea, they have escaped. Even Professor Newton has not been found. We suspected they have accomplices who helped them escaped. We have controlled all escape routes from the research institute after rounding up all the researchers in the facility, but nothing was found. They must still be hiding somewhere inside."


    "Useless things! No matter! I''ll handle it from here. You just let your men stay on the perimeter and don''t move around." Alethea terminated the connection of her modified VIRCOFF from the man''s Cerebral Connector in disgust. "Call the agents for an assassination mission."


    To Alethea, demons will stay as an eternal enemy for her. She had tolerated their presence long enough so that the Ancient Interstellar Gate Artifact research could move forward. It was time to clear off all these potential threats before they could focus on their main enemy from space. She had a premonition that the advanced aliens will be here not too long later.


    ...


    The commotion above was heard by Wentilakh as he took hurried steps inside the dimly lit tunnel. Newton was standing on a two wheeled device as it moved forward silently with the help of an electrical motor. In the beginning, there was two devices, but Wentilakh had decline to use it after he fell for a few times. He was helpless with his inability to adapt to the new device in front of him. It was a first.


    The tunnel was very long with sometimes moving downwards and upwards. It was illuminated with a tiny light source which casted a very dim light on the pathway every tens of meters. The light strips along the tunnel helped lead the way tremendously. Wentilakh could feel that they have traveled very far, at least more than thirty kilometers, directly out of the main Neverwinter Royal Capital administration zone. His three attendants were competent warriors who had completed the Rites of Warriors, hence they have no qualms in keeping up with the old human professor. The tunnel was finally connected to an underground shallow waterway.


    They had finally saw a light at the end of the underground waterway and sped up. Newton was breathing a little heavily. All the excitement was not good for his weak heart. He placed his right palm tiredly on a squarish stone at the side of the grille door covering the waterway entrance. Once they emerged from the secret escape tunnel, the sky was already dim signaling the approaching dusk. Wentilakh observed his surrounding and noted that they have emerged at drainage system beside an abandoned warehouse in a somewhat inconspicuous rural location. The location was quite well thought out; just outside the busy main capital, but still within the industrial zone. This was because after the industrial zone would be the residential areas with a high density population.


    Before Wentilakh could take his third step, Newton noticed something unusual at the corner of his eyes and shouted feebly,"Wentilakh, move out of the way!" He turned back and jumped backwards with an unknown strength he didn''t know he had and pushed the senior elder demon to the side. A muffled sound was heard accompanied by a splash of blood from Newton as he shielded Wentilakh from a sudden aerial attack. The old professor fell down and was caught by the stunned Wentilakh before he could hit the ground. Wentilakh quickly examined the wound and was relieved when he found it on the back of his friend''s left shoulder and not on an important organ. This meant that he could be saved.


    A group of witches in black bodysuits and masks showed themselves from within the darkness. The leader scrunched her brows once she saw the one on the ground was not the one they intended to kill. It was even the most important human asset of Graycastle. Underneath her mask was an extremely ugly expression as she knew what awaited her after such a blunder.


    Without saying a word, they attacked the demons together with high frequency blades and guns equipped with silencers and special bullets.


    ...


    The three demon warriors engaged with the witch assassins while Wentilakh helped applying first aid on the grievously injured Newton. The old man''s face was pale white, and his pupils were dilating, indicating he was entering shock from loss of blood. Wentilakh knew that Newton won''t be able to make it if he didn''t take extreme measures to help his new friend right here, and right now. His friend was too old and weak as he was just a normal human passing his prime a long time ago.


    Wentilakh carried the old professor to a safe corner where he drawn a circle in the form of profound writings he made on the dirt floor. He then placed him in the middle of the circle. He inspected the wound entry and tried to find the exit wound but to no avail. The bullet must''ve lodged on Newton''s shoulder bone. However, from the looks of it, Newton''s shoulder bone must''ve been shattered to pieces. He knew the bullet was aiming at him, precisely at his forehead. He bitterly shook his head. As an intelligent person, he knew his position well in Neverwinter. However, he persisted and stayed, largely due to the advent of breakthrough in the modified Antimatter study as the second energy source for the Gate Artifact. Newton was merely collateral damage, albeit a pricey one.


    He took out several tiny small sized Eppendorf-like tubes which contained one milliliter of potion each from within his large gray robe and haphazardly tossed the contents in the air before he made a flurry of hand seals. The mixture of solutions suspended in midair and agglutinated with each other forming a pale silver-like liquid. Wentilakh cut a small incision on his index finger and let a drop of blood fall on the writings.


    As the writings lit up with a bright red color, the pale silver liquid slowly descended and seeped slowly into Newton''s wound. The painful expression lessened as Newton''s breathing slowly became more regulated. Wentilakh carried the frail professor and waited for his attendants. If no one helped them, it would be better if he took Newton away to the Demonic Settlement. He was extremely disappointed with the opposition from the witches'' side after all that he had contributed.


    ...


    A group of witches from Sanctuary 3 suddenly joined the fray and turned the situation around when two of Wentilakh''s attendants perished, leaving the last one faithfully defending his Senior Elder bravely. As it turned out, by using the emergency tunnel inside the laboratory, the agents at Sanctuary 3 would automatically be notified. Due to the high number of opponents and reluctance to injure their sisters from Sanctuary 3, the assassin witches from the military faction decisively retreated swiftly.


    Seeing the Senior Elder Demon was unharmed and the condition of Professor Newton, they immediately escorted him to Sanctuary 3 while providing him with protection. Observing the progression of the event, Wentilakh only clicked his tongue unwillingly and followed the witches. He was still unsure whether he was a prisoner or a guest. What he knew right now, his friend was in dire need of medical treatment. Depending on the situation, he would escape after making sure Newton was in good hands.


    ...


    Roland extended his right hand in an apologetic expression, "My deepest apologies for what has transpired, Senior Elder Wentilakh. From this moment onwards, I will make sure your grievances will be properly addressed, and a compensation is due, naturally."


    Observing the Immortal King''s extended hand with a mixed feeling, Wentilakh finally clasped it with his own right hand and gave it a firm shake. "I''m not so sure, Your Highness. Although our cooperation stemmed from the mutual need to investigate the Antimatter Core research, I feel like my usefulness has expired in your behalf''s eyes. We just need for you to fulfill your end of the promise so that we could power up our own Salvation Lake." He answered skeptically. Will this illustrious figure fulfill his promise? Or will he exterminate him to vanquish the hopes of his people?


    "Are you sure you want to proceed before waiting for Linneia''s field investigation report? What if something went wrong on your side?" Roland asked calmly.


    Wentilakh was silent for a moment before he answered back with determination, "It is a risk we are willing to take."


    Roland sighed regretfully.


    He knew the thin ice they were carefully treading in this fragile cooperation was finally broken with the assassination attempt. He understood Wentilakh''s cautiousness due to how important this research was to both parties. He contacted a helper through his personal VIRCOFF and discussed with her in a lengthy manner. Listening in on the Immortal King''s requests, Wentilakh''s eyes were getting wider and wider in disbelief. After an hour''s wait, a silver box was presented to him.


    Wentilakh opened the box to see two white bracelets beside each other. He took one, pressed a small inconspicuous button on it before a digital inventory popped up. Inside was a list of items he never imagined he would obtain just like that;


    Inventory List


    Constructing an Antimatter Core for FTL-engine Usage - Belial Newton et al.


    Operating Systems of Ancient Kohiten''s Language for Powering the Interstellar Gate Artifact- Linneia Wimbledon and Alan Rogers


    Investigative Review of Ancient Interstellar Gate Artifact - Loralyne Painee et al.


    Modification Methods of Antimatter Core as the Secondary Power Source of Ancient Interstellar Gate Artifact - Wentilakh et al.


    20 modified Antimatter Core


    5 FTL-engine Spacecraft with various manuals


    7 100 cubic meters empty independent storage space bracelets


    3 100 cubic meters grain filled independent storage space bracelets


    The list was extremely generous until it made the Senior Elder Demon with his last accompanying attendant speechless for a long time. Trailing his sight on the detailed research paper bearing his name, he was deeply touched with Newton''s gesture for placing his name first as the lead for the research they worked together. He didn''t know it was documented this way. Wentilakh took out the thick research paper and skimmed through the electronic document. He realized Newton had done an extremely detail report. The meticulous explanation with the supporting data would help them greatly to repeat the same experiment with precision. Once they obtain all the necessary ingredients, they too could produce their own Antimatter and further modify them accordingly to power up their own Salvation Lake if the twenty modified Antimatter Core were fully expended.


    Wentilakh took the second bracelet and checked the inventory list;


    10 Life Support Quarters


    His eyes widened again. These compensations truly touched the old Senior Elder''s heart. He watched the Immortal King''s warm smile and spoke emotionally, "The Demon Race owed Your Highness the highest life debt, for the second time. This old one is truly grateful from the bottom of his heart. We will forever remember your generosity and hopefully can one day return the favor." Both of them bowed deeply at the visage of the charismatic Immortal King. They understood the previous attack was not the will of the Empire and the leader had tried his best to show his sincerity not with words, but with action.


    Roland took out a pen-sized black rectangular stick and gave his final parting gift to Wentilakh. "This is a modified version of VIRCOFF. No matter where you are, once you can receive a signal, you can contact us. We will come and help you in your time of need. I can vouch for that." He grabbed both of Wentilakh''s wrinkly hands warmly. "Good luck." He patted Wentilakh''s attendant''s shoulder twice and took his leave.


    Wentilakh stood still for a few moments and spoke, "Good luck to you too, Your Highness. Let''s meet again someday somewhere in the universe."


    Roland paused his steps and nodded with a gratifying smile.


    ...


    On the day that the Senior Elder Demon and his last attendant were escorted safely to the Demonic Settlement by a group of armed Combat Witches, the headquarters of the leaders of the Military Faction was stormed by a professional team of witches form the Witch Union. It turned out the Witch Union had finally allied itself with the Pacifist Faction representing Sanctuary 3. Alethea and her core members were apprehended and confined indefinitely before the Immortal King himself broadcasted a major announcement to the whole nation as well as other affiliated empires worldwide with the help of the Witch Agents stationed on various regions of the planet.


    The Immortal King had relayed a number of shocking information by the distribution of VIRCOFFs worldwide and urged nation leaders to work together to implement the worldwide bunker project which will be stationed at important points from Neverwinter to the specified location in the Extreme North. The recording of the alien attacks on Neverwinter airspace greatly shook the hearts of the leaders as they realized an incoming attack of a larger scale could happen anytime in the future. Heroic generals of different races were dispatched to Neverwinter to bolster the military prowess of Graycastle Empire while obtaining further information and new technologies. As the bunker project started, droves of people initiated a large migration towards the four points containing the life support Quarters currently being constructed by i-Space Corporation.


    As a large number of stable Quarters developed by i-Space Corporation were completed, the citizens of Graycastle started to enter the Bunker to lead their life inside while performing the required tasks responsibly. As days turned to months, and months turned to years, the inhabitants of the planet were getting sparser, while the planet was getting hotter. At the end of the day, only the military could be seen roaming the outer surface of the planet.


    Everyone was desperately waiting for news on the return of one person.


    Crown Princess Linneia Wimbledon.


    ...

 32 Promises after Promises

    Authors'' Announcement (again):


    Guys, so sorry for the long break due to RL issues + writing the chapter. After discussing with Mr Mooncat, we decided to break this chapter to two or three parts tentatively. It''s because, as an editor, he found it too taxing due to the solemness of the storyline and the high amount of content (we release about 4.5k right now, which was 3/4 of total written material. However, the arc is only 1/2 in and is still being continuously written). For chapter 32 (current chapter), 33, and 34 will focus on Linneia''s arc. The size of this arc is simply too big, we couldn''t squeeze them more without affecting the storyline greatly. Before this, the final chapter was supposed to be 35 correct? There''s supposed to be 3 more chapters to go before the end of GW. So, currently, we decided to add 2 more to it to 37.


    No worries. GW will end most probably by the end of this year if possible. If not, the slowest will be January 2019. The next one will be release on a Tuesday, 0900, as usual. Thanks


    Oh, a special shout out to our loyal reader, YouOnlyLiveOnce! Thank you for pledging with us! This chapter is dedicated to you.


    Happy reading.


    Mrs Mooncat


    https://www.patreon.com/MrandMrsMooncat


    http://ko-fi.com/mrandmrsmooncat


    ++++++++++++++++++++++++


    Chapter 32: Promises after Promises


    Linneia didn''t dare to close her eyes although it was dark as she vigilantly walked through the highly viscos liquid-like suspended substance. She could feel a strong resistance akin to walking through quicksand.Although she was pushing forth, a repelling energy was continuously bombarding her from the front. Each step taken consumed a lot of her mind and body energy. The one minute needed to go through the gate felt like hours has passed. However. she was glad it was not that bad; the readings on her recombinant suit showed that even a normal human body without a suit could go through albeit taking a longer time. While crossing through the ''gate'', she noticed that the connection between the Cerebral Connector on her person to the main receptors in the artifact-containing hall was disconnected.


    Once she passed through, a glimmer of red temporarily blinded her vision. The first thing she noticed even before she reopened her eyes was the abrupt change in temperature of the surrounding. Although they have been staying for quite a while inside the cave housing the ancient artifact, the cold from outside still seeped in. As long as they didn''t stay inside the Rabbit, the extreme chill could be felt until to the bones. Hence, once they put on the recombinant suit, the internal suit temperature had been increased to moderate the best condition for the host''s body. The heat radiated from outside coupled with the additional internal heat had nearly cooked them inside their suit. After an agonizing ten seconds for the auto setting to kick in, she finally felt much better.


    Afterwards, Linneia took the time to survey her surroundings. She found that she and her team were in a wide enclosure made out of white bones carelessly being placed around the ancient artifact. After requesting the others to secure the perimeters, Linneia squatted down to touch the red sand below her as she looked again at the surroundings. Currently, it was very dim, signifying dusk or dawn. However, they powered up the artifact around noon on the other side. The sky was reddish and harsh wind carrying reddish particles were blowing hard on their face. The sparse trees were brownish red in color and a little further ahead with not even a speck of green leaves. Reddish mountainous regions occupied the horizon. The world they were currently in were dominated in a multitudinous shade of red everywhere. It felt taxing to the eyes.


    Linneia frowned with dislike at the arid environment. It seemed that the local environment was less than ideal for human habituation. However, she kept her own opinion and waited for the recombinant suit to perform its analysis. The recombinant suit was busy analyzing the air properties of the foreign location while her personal Cerebral Connector was continuously sending all the information through the gate.


    She was quite surprised with the upgraded version of the Cerebral Connector sent over by Frieda for them from her great grandpa. It has a lot of new features and integrated with excellent high definition life streaming capabilities. Once they have gone through the ancient artifact, the connection was suddenly re-established again. Hence, Linneia and co. together with the experts and researchers from the other side simultaneously felt extremely relieved. On Linneia''s side, they could obtain all the needed technical advice and support in real-time, while on the researchers'' side, they could analyze the environment and gauge the threat level of the new world for in depth research on the spot. All information were then relayed to Neverwinter Research Institute and Sanctuary 3 simultaneously.


    Linneia moved forward with caution once she got the green light from Prof Rogers. Prof Rogers reported that the air quality had passed the minimum needed for a human to survive. He told all of the explorers that they could remove their helmet if they wanted to but advised them not to since the threat level of the surrounding was still under scrutiny. Prof Rogers became Linneia''s personal neural assistant to give her customized technical support. After all, only Anya, who possessed the gift of mechanical mind had a personal automated assistant to support her when she was working with machines.


    As they cautiously moved through the sparsely placed bone ''cage'', they stood in a formation where Linneia and little Frieda were placed in the middle, while being flanked by General Raksha and Adjutant Solstis. Melati stayed at the rear with five other elite soldiers while another five moved at the front, acting as the first layer of defense.


    After discussing for a while, they decided to move towards the east as suggested by Rogers since the upgraded Neural Connector had detected a body of water around twelve kilometers towards the east. They needed to get a sample to analyze the safety level.


    Looking at the uneven land with jutted red trees ahead, Linneia made the decision to move on foot first before reaching a suitable location to use their triphibian vehicles. Currently, the surrounding was less than ideal. However, if they travel by air, they won''t be able to collect proper data on the vegetation and geography.


    " How is it, Frieda? Can you detect anyone''s aura from home?" As they moved along, Linneia asked the little loli seriously.


    "Yes and no, Sister Princess." After scrunching her cute brow a few times, Frieda answered with difficulty. She knew she was permitted to join the exploration team for the sole purpose of determining the usage of her ability in this new place. If she could, she could teleport a number of people to and fro without the usage of the Ancient Artifact as long as there was a single person she knew on the other side! "I feel that I can teleport if I want to, but Grandpa Roger''s aura is too wispy for me to lock on. It feels like there was something preventing me from properly locking on to it. It''s like an interference signal in place." She could observe the faint emerald-green aura of the vigorous Grandpa Professor fluctuating and disappearing in her mind. She couldn''t make heads or tails on why it was so.


    Seeing the distraught expression of the hardworking little lass, Linneia smiled, "It alright, sweetie. We''ll try again later, okay? Try resting your mind a little. Once we reach the body of water, probably you can take your time readjusting your body condition and try again?" Linneia patted the sweet little girl''s head with her gloved hand.


    The explorer team moved rapidly towards the east while putting their weaponries on standby. As they went deeper into the shade of red gnarly forest with an arid environment, they didn''t come across any life forms along the way. Not even a chirp of bird, or a hoot of animal were heard. It was eerily silent until it felt uncomfortable. Only the muffled sounds of their boots were heard in the silent forest.


    Linneia could feel something was very wrong. Her sixth sense was blaring loudly in her mind as she quietly relayed a short command, "Everyone be more alert. Something is not right."


    Suddenly, the first soldier at the very front fell down and disappeared from their eyes!


    "Halt!" Linneia strictly shouted into her comms to stop everyone''s movement.


    They have triggered a trap!


    Linneia''s expression turned ugly as she saw the camouflage trap hole covered by itself once another soldier placed his foot on a small inconspicuous boulder after he stopped moving as per Linneia''s command. If he continued jumping down from the boulder, he would''ve fall through the automated hole on the spot just like the first soldier. The trap hole was extremely large; with a diameter of ten meters or so. Looking at the size of the trap, it was meant for extremely large animals!


    A soldier at the front tapped the stone again and shouted, "Ramsay! Are you alright?!"


    A very faint sound came over, "Yeah!" From the sound, Linneia deducted that the soldier was very deep inside. She was glad he managed to activate the flying function of the recombinant suit.


    Linneia moved forward and tapped the surrounding using a long tree branch to check. It turned out a number of triggers were placed at the perimeter of the trap hole.


    "Someone please find some leverage to stop the trap from closing. Get ready to lodge it in once the trap is open again. Soldier press the trigger again. We need to get him out before the person placing the trap returns." Linneia gave her command as the four soldiers at the front moved efficiently as per her instruction.


    When the soldiers manage to lodge a few branches at the gap, a fierce growl accompanied by a loud shout and ammunition being fired were heard from inside.


    "Ramsay, come on up, now!" Another soldier shouted as the repeated firing of guns; all of them were sweating.


    General Raksha suddenly lunged forward into the trap hole while pulling out a high frequency saber with her left hand and activated a gun on her right. Solstis was so exasperated as he followed suit. Once inside, she saw a gigantic creature with a height of a two storey building snugly stuck inside the hole attacking the soldier with its free left paw. Its right paw was lodged in between the wall and its huge body rendering it useless. The soldier was trying his best to reignite the malfunctioned blasters of his suit while dodging the attack from the huge beast. Once a while, he would shoot the creature, but the skin was so tough, it didn''t produce any result. The shootings only aggravated the beast more as it started to twist itself in ferocious anger while swiping the soldier continuously with its paw in a random motion, in a bid to retaliate.


    Raksha somersaulted down stealthily without activating the flying function of her suit and held her saber down. Like a lightning strike, it directly pierced the top part of the creature''s head at the very top deeply, leaving only the handle of the saber. Red blood with white brain matter gushed out drenching Raksha''s grim disposition, making her appearance to shadow a death goddess. Her action made the creature stop attacking the soldier and trashed its head. Its final death throes were extremely ferocious; a faint tremor could be felt on the surface where everyone stood. Solstis expertly cut off its flailing limb to stop it from continuing to attack anyone.


    A few minutes later, the large creature finally stop trashing and slumped to the side.


    Solstis heaved a relieved sigh, "Raksha, can you stop being so reckless? Things could get really bad, you know."


    The beautiful general only snorted and didn''t answer her adjutant''s admonition. She pulled off the saber and wiped it at the side of the creature''s head. She then expertly twirled the saber and kept it on her hips before jumping down to help the starry-eyed soldier.


    ...


    "Report! There was a strong energy undulation coming from the Portal! The scanner had detected a number of foreign creatures crossing through successfully. They are moving to the east." A low, yet urgent sound reverberated inside a spacious hall. The hall was actually carved within a hollowed out mountain as the sleek polished walls were faintly red, resembling the color of the mountain ranges outside.


    The hall was silent for a moment until another booming voice in ancient Kohiten language resounded in response, " Send intel to the Hunter Team since they were already en route to the hunting grounds nearby. Hunt each of them down and eliminate. I don''t want a repeat of the last invasion to happen again."


    "Yes, Great Grandmaster."


    Once the hurried footsteps diminished, the owner of the booming voice breathed deeply, "Do not blame us, o foreign ones. We have learnt our lesson for being too accommodating. Without enough deterrence, you people will come again and again to invade us." As the owner of the voice took a few steps towards an altar with a suspended purple crystal in the middle, its face was lit up by the glow.


    It was a face of an ashen faced humanoid with wizened disposition but without a single hair on its face or head. Its eyes were full of wisdom. The difference of this person to a normal human was its overall size. It was five meters in height; double the height of a human.It gazed into the purple crystal and shook its head wearily. "It has been too long. When will this life of mine expires?"


    ...


    "The organism is carnivorous with a reptile descend. Its DNA is 85 % similar to a prehistoric beast from our continent which dated back to more than five thousand years ago." Rogers reported the data interpreted from the sample brought back by Solstis after a short discussion with a biologist in his team through Linneia''s Cerebral Connector.


    "Which means, this beast''s ancestor came from our planet. Surprisingly, the large beast may be treated as food source for the locals in the area. If not, why would they brought the beasts through the artifact in the first place? Most probably these beasts could not be domesticated. Hence, once a sufficient number were brought in, they were left to adapt to the new environment. The ones that survived evolved and repopulated with time and produced a steady source of food for the people staying here." The intelligent princess immediately could read the rest.


    Linneia had a slight anticipation to meet up with the Kohiten Giant Race she had heard and learnt from her great grandfather. She really wanted to hear from their side of story since they were the only race who was loss during the earlier Divine War period but survived.


    The whole team started moving again, albeit with an added caution. This time they focused more on the surface of the forest floor to check for traps. As their hurried steps got closer to their destination, they had managed to evade more than twenty traps along the way.


    Suddenly, Raksha called out to Linneia with a grim look and spoke quietly, "My senses detected we''ve been surrounded slowly. However, the encirclement is not yet complete. Either we push forth and break through or retaliate on the spot. What do you think, Princess?"


    Everyone on the team kept their own pace moving forward without any disturbances, however, everyone was focusing on Linneia at the moment. They will act accordingly following the princess'' decision.


    After a short silence, Linneia replied, "Let''s not be hasty. We don''t have bad intention. We should try diplomacy."


    Raksha scrunched her brow, "Are you sure it''s a good move, Princess?"


    "Believe me." Linneia nodded with confidence.


    She signaled everyone to halt their movement and took three steps forward. Speaking in a somewhat broken Kohiten ancient language, she tried her best to sound nonthreatening, "We come in peace. We''re humans who come from Kohiten''s ancestral planet..." Before Linneia could finish her sentence, a large metallic lance the size of a whale harpoon shot through from between the gnarled trees ahead at lightning speed.


    Linneia was so shocked she forgot to evade. Raksha flashed forward by using her powers and pulled Linneia to the side as fast as possible. However, the gigantic lance which permeated with a sharp wind energy grazed through Raksha''s waist making a large fist sized hole and went forward to impale three of the soldiers standing behind them. The general puked a lot of blood on Linneia''s face while shielding her from harm.


    In between her gritted teeth, she spat out the rest of the blood coagulating from her internal injury to the side and whispered harshly, "You are too naive, Princess! We must leave their encirclement now! If not, everyone here will die!" She shook Linneia''s shoulder.


    Linneia''s shock was not unfounded. For a scholar who had studied the ancient Kohiten giant race, she knew they were intellectual beings with high level of empathy. They have in them the ability to empower words and writings into energy. Hence, their way was unique compared to others. They were also known as gentle beings who loved peace.


    Solstis quickly went in front of the two ladies while a unique halberd agglomerated on his left hand. This showed that the adjutant was being serious this time. It was a secret between the two that he was an undying servant exclusively placed beside Raksha until his Highness the Immortal King had lightly shadowed out his awareness of the secret. His life depended on Raksha''s well-being. If the witch general died, he would too, as his life was bounded with Raksha. Between them, they had built a very strong rapport and acted more like siblings rather than master-servant relationship. Raksha was someone who''s overbearing, more fiery and reckless, while Solstis was the one who remained grounded and calm most of the time. It helped the duo achieved a balance and made them live longer until now.


    Solstis'' grim face observed his surroundings with concentration. Until now, not even a shadow of the attacker was seen. They have been very careful not to expose themselves. Melati stood at the back; protecting them from the rear. She couldn''t employ her powers because there was simply no target in sight just yet. The only person who could detect them was the heavily wounded Raksha, however, she was in a really bad shape. The shock from losing so much blood had made her drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness.


    "Big Sisters, let me guide you. I can detect their aura too." Little Frieda sounded timidly behind Linneia. "The enclosure is fast approaching! Move towards 10 o''clock for about 300 meters now!" Linneia hesitated for a split second and carried the little girl on her back and started running towards the direction. "Come on!"


    "Princess! We''re going further away from the Ancient Artifact!" Solstis argued. He dashed about and deflected three other incoming lance attacks from the left and the front sides.


    "Big brother! The auras on our backs were extremely thick! We can''t go that way!" Frieda explained in fear.


    While running on the path shown by Frieda, Solstis exhorted, "Why don''t we fight back!? We''re not weak. Raksha needs immediate medical attention now!" He glanced at the general worriedly. She was being carried by a soldier on his back while they were on the move. A few lance attacks from their back was intercepted by Melati as she used her power to snatch the gigantic lance with precision every time she saw one was hurtled towards them. The incoming lances disappeared from view and reappeared again on her left and right hands. But she couldn''t return back the attack since she couldn''t see the enemy.


    "Can you fight a few hundred of them at one time? Frieda is right. She said that there is around three hundred of auras nearby with each location bearing a group of ten each. Half of them clustered at the Artifact''s location. We need to break through the encirclement first and gather our strength and figure out what to do next. Returning to the portal was not the right decision." Linneia had manage to return to a calm state as she analyzed the next steps. She had asked for Prof Rogers to cut off the connection of the two worlds for safety. Once the connection was cut, the technical support was terminated. Now they needed to depend on themselves first. Right now, on the other side, the technical team could only pray without being able to connect to them via the Cerebral Connectors.


    Once they leave the three hundred meter mark mentioned by Frieda, the lance attacks significantly reduced.


    "Brother adjutant! In front there''s five auras! If we pass through here, we can leave the encirclement. The other place got too many." Frieda spoke worriedly.


    "Leave them to us, little one."


    Five lance attacks were launched from their front. Solstis parried three of them while Melati took over the other two. For once, five humanoid figures as tall as one storey building appeared in front of their eyes. They wore light leather armor with a faint grayish skin. Other than that, they appeared to be very human-like with a heroic spirit in between their brows.


    "Stop attacking if you don''t want us to retaliate! This is the final warning! We come in peace!" Linneia overbearingly spoke in the Kohiten''s language. At the same time, she secretly asked all of her team members to prep the blasters in order to fly away from there once they break away from the encirclement. She told them her plan to meet at the top of the mountain far ahead.


    The giants paused slightly after hearing Linneia''s cry, but then a set of lances appeared again in their hands as they throw towards them in close range.


    Linneia was extremely enraged with their actions! It showed that they did understand her words but choose to ignore. "Exterminate them now before the others reach our location."


    Solstis engaged the incoming attacks head on with Melati side by side while the other soldiers fired at them from the rear to disorient them from focusing on their two main combatants. Three of the lances were parried by Solstis while the other two was deflected on two of the giants'' chests by Melati. She then started with clenching her hands upfront with a serious expression and harvested the eyes of one giant directly in front of her while Solstis jumped forward and beheaded the sightless giant in a flash before he retreated again. In less than five minutes, three giants were dead.


    The last two giants were shock for a short moment before their expressions turned savage. They started making a combined soundwave attacks by writing in mid-air just like a wizard!


    Four soldiers on their side hurriedly activated the shield function of their recombinant suits and make a large scale levitating shield to appear in front of them. The others started shooting at the incoming enemies. As the soundwave attacks bombarded the energy shield with pieces of recombinant suits attached, the power gauge reduced slowly. Cracks faintly appeared as the shield''s ability reduced bit by bit only after a short ten minutes. The scales were tipping to the giants'' side.


    "Sister Princess, the other auras are gaining on us! Tens of them!" Frieda''s face was drained of color.


    Melati launched her powers again towards both of the giants again and again, desperate to end them before the power of the shields were gone. However, it was repelled by an invisible force.


    The commotion awakened the seriously injured Raksha. She observed their predicament in a helpless manner. "Princess, you must harvest my gift later. Solstis and I might need to leave earlier than expected. All of you, take care." Both her gaze and Solstis'' met. In them were a mixture of emotions; a reluctance to leave, guilt, helplessness and worry.


    "So sorry for all the trouble I caused all this while, Solstis." Raksha spoke with guilt.


    Solstis smiled warmly, "It is my pleasure to serve you, Lady Raksha."


    Linneia had a bad premonition although she couldn''t make heads or tail over the conversation. "What are you going to do.."


    Raksha closed her eyes to focus as her third eye opened!


    She teleported towards the back of the assailants and made a series of complicated handseals before she moved them forward with difficulty; as if the action used all of her energy. One hand aimed at one giant''s head while the other aimed at the other giant''s head from the back. A blinding white light emitted out of her hands at close range as it reduced both giants into ashes.


    Raksha fell to the ground but was caught in a timely manner by Solstis. He had a serene expression on his face.


    "Princess, it''s over. Fly away as soon as possible once you harvest my gift." She pulled Linneia''s hand and placed it on top of her head. "Quickly, before I fade away."


    Tears streamed out of Linneia''s eyes. She closed her eyes and focused. "I promised to take good care of your clan, Sister Raksha Tempesta."


    Both of them shone brightly as the others could see a fiery red light moved from within Raksha''s heart into their crown princess'' heart. Once the light assimilated into their princess heart, it slowly diminished. If one could see the magic cyclone of Linneia''s, one would notice that the core cyclone had been mutated into a different shade and shape. Previously, Linneia''s magical core was wispy without an intangible shape with a slight blue color. Right now, a tinge of red appeared as the wispy shape turned slightly spirally. Linneia had been blessed with the power to assimilate another witches'' gift into her own. However, she had never used them because it will cause the death of the witch once she absorbed her gifts. Hence, she had always depended on her intelligence and charisma all this while.


    Once the process was done, the dying general became illusory and disappeared with a smile, "I believe you can succeed, Princess."


    Not long later, the crowd were shocked with Adjutant Solstis turning illusory. He sighed, "Princess, I''ll be going now. Do your best. Please protect everyone from home for us. You owe us big time."


    He turned towards Melati and smiled with a heartache. "Be happy and live long. Maybe it was not meant to be." He murmured quietly before disappearing.


    Nothing was left of the beautiful general and her loyal adjutant.


    A streak of tear leaked silently from Melati''s eyes.


    ...


    "Princess, the four of us didn''t have our suits anymore, hence we can''t follow you. Please escape from here. Leave the pursuers to us. We will act as a decoy and lead them elsewhere. You must survive. Our home planet''s survival depends on you." Ramsay, the first soldier who was in a peril at the beginning knew even if his suit wasn''t broken, he still couldn''t fly due to the malfunctioned blasters. Hence, his resolve had solidified a long time ago.


    Before the sorrow of losing Raksha and Solstis was over, Linneia had been harshly awakened by the hard facts that the elite soldiers who helped them defend the attacks of the giants didn''t have their recombinant suits anymore. At the moment, only her, Melati, little Frieda, and three soldiers were left with intact recombinant suits.


    "But we could carry the three of you." She tried her hardest to find a way to help them. Leaving them to act as decoy meant that abandoning them to their deaths. These giants were extremely strong and intelligent.


    "Please don''t, your Highness. You''ll be extremely slow. Easy to be targeted. Let us be useful this time." The other soldier exhorted with sincere eyes.


    Linneia''s calm facade finally broke as she wept. She pushed the tears away and answered solemnly, "Thank you everyone. We will do our best. I will definitely find a way to let everyone back home survive the incoming calamity."


    As the Crown Princess of Graycastle flew away, her tears couldn''t stop as she was burdened with yet another promise. Promises after promises filled her hearts. They slowly turned into a fiery determination to push her forward to succeed.

 33 Death after Death

    Linneia sighed as she looked at the energy level of their recombinant suits; they were now less than half left. The energy was exhausted after hours of continuous flying.


    They have finally lost their pursuers some time ago and now were flying towards the mountain ranges at a higher altitude with increased pace.Linneia was anxious with the abnormal effect of the present environment towards their recombinant suits. Although the suits could be automatically recharged by absorbing sunlight, Linneia noticed that the energy has not recovered at the usual rate.


    [It must be this damn sun!] She thought worriedly. She planned to find a secluded area within the mountain ranges to rest and recharge. However, the mountain ranges were still far from view, which puzzled Linneia greatly. [Should I still press forward or make a big detour towards the Ancient Artifact?]


    Right now, what she needed to do the most was to report back their findings about the inhabitants of this world. Their situation right now was like being caught in between a rock and a hard place. She needed to bring everyone over to save them from planetary destruction, but the giant race inhabiting this world was extremely savage and wouldn''t accommodate any ''guests''. This can be seen from how fierce they tried to eliminate outsiders without questions.


    While the gears in her mind were rotating and thinking of solution after solution, they approached a somewhat distorted hazy region midair.


    Linneia sent over a soldier to scout the hazy region before proceeding. Hewas horrified to find that the mountain ranges were actually a gargantuan two dimensional projected image! However, he couldn''t observe anything from the other side of the projected image.He quickly reported the finding to Linneia and the rest.


    After a moment of hesitation and discussion, they decided to take the risk to enter the area. The projected image was so large that they needed an extremely long time to make a detour. The other way around would be to double back from their original destination, which will mean certain annihilation. Without a good choice in hand, they could only hope for a miracle and find a more tolerant ''host'' to explain their intention.


    Once they flew passed the image, a large metropolitan as far as the eyes could see was in front of them. A loud siren was blaring, most probably they have triggered some sort of alarm by crossing over the image.


    From afar, a team of giants were approaching at high speed to inspect the breached region. "Everyone, land now! We need to go into hiding!" The six of them quickly landed into the suburb area to find shelter.


    ...


    "Great Grandmaster, the Hunter team failed to wipe out all of the intruders. According to intel, there are still six remaining. They seem to move towards the outer military base area."


    The one being called as the ''Great Grandmaster'' paused its movement and asked, "Do you know their origins? What are their characteristics?"


    "This humble one isn''t too sure. The Hunters said that they looked like us, but much smaller. One of them could even speak our language!"


    The hands of the Grandmaster trembled a little. "Are you sure?"


    "Positive."


    "However, although they are small, they''re extremely strong. A number of deaths had surfaced from their direct confrontation. Right now, the Hunter Teams are in need of blood to avenge the fallen ones." The person bringing the news reported solemnly.


    Silence ensued.


    The attendant waited and waited until its jittery hands started to sweat. In its mind was a jumble of questions and speculations. At a time when it wasn''t able to endure the silence anymore and wanted to ask the glorious being in front of it, it suddenly heard a reply, "Ah... Tell them to apprehend these people first. Don''t kill them."


    Unsatisfied with the decision, the attendant added, "But, but, Grandmaster, they have killed our people. The hunters would not listen to me and stop."


    The Grandmaster raised its hand to stop the attendant from continuing. It sighed deeply and added, "Send over my command in my name then. Before that, their survival will depend on their luck." It shook its bald head in weariness and sympathy.


    ...


    A hand signal to stop was shownto the team of hunters following behind Loncherns at a fast pace. Everyone gathered around it with a knowing expression; it showed that they had gotten a new instruction from the higher-ups.


    "New instruction from the top. Apprehend the aliens without killing them." Locherns explained with an ugly face. It had never felt such an unjust wrath since the last invasion war with an alien species which caused the death of its whole family. Everyone similarly showed an uneasy expression.


    "Are we really going to follow the instruction, Leader?! One of them has killed the younger one in my family!" Another one in the team spoke with an unwilling anger. It could be understood since its relative was the only one left since the last war.


    "It''s the command from our Grandmaster. Without it present, we would''ve been invaded again and again after the last war with the foreign aliens who tried to invade us from the heavens. We need to at least follow its instruction although only on the surface." Loncherns quietly spoke. After a short pause, he continued, "However, if they were accidentally killed while trying to escape, it''s not our fault." Loncherns stared at its comrades with a vicious sidelong glance.


    Another team member grunted unhappily, "Curse the damn hell''s gate! If only we could''ve just blow it up! These aliens wouldn''t come over one after another!I still couldn''t understand how these new ones enter since the gate had been sealed."


    "Who knows what kind of technology they have with them. Although they''re small, never underestimate them. If not, our fate will be the same as Team 9." Another voice added.


    "They won''t get the chance. I vouch for it." Loncherns placated the rest while gripping its lance tightly with murderous intent swirling in its eyes.


    Everyone had gotten the idea unanimously and proceeded with another sinister goal in mind. Too many deaths had numbed these hunters and made them only see revenge and blood. Only a few hundred years had passed since the last invasion war, and it was still fresh in their minds as giants naturally had long lives. They knew, it was only a matter of time before the small group of aliens who crossed over from the hell''s gate would be found and apprehended. After all, this area was the military base of the Kohitens. It was built over the remains of their collapsed empire as a watch for outside invasion. Not a single civilian was present here.


    ...


    Melati had been on the move with the team for more than four hours in a row.


    She had forcefully put her poker face on; the serene-like expression she used to exude. It was not the time to grief for the death of that person. She knew duty always comes first. However, she couldn''t shake off the bitterness she felt in the depth of her heart. It had nearly affected her judgement. Unknowingly, that person had managed to worm his way into her heart and her mind. She had always given him the cold shoulder with a sweet expression. Now, she knew it was too late.


    Melati steeled her heart and tried to focus. She was the only notable combatant in this team who could pose a threat to these giants. Their ammunition was not that effective against them. Moreover, they have not yet secured a safe location to regroup and rest.


    Observing the faces of the other team members who had gotten paler by the minute, she felt lost for once. Since they have entered the city, they had not managed to find the way out. It felt like they were running in circles inside a formation. Or, maybe, the city grounds were extremely huge beyond compare. If only Madam Helen was here. The Senior Witch would''ve found the best strategy every single time in a seemingly hopeless situation. She was not as competent as Madam Helen in this aspect. She brushed off this thought and determined to do what she could do best, which was being useful by killing the enemy as much as possible.


    Currently, Melati lead everyone ahead as a vanguard. The other two witches in their team were assistant witches at best, especially the extremely pale little Frieda. She knew, the little one wouldn''t be able to make it with a frontal confrontation with a group of murderous giants. Without himpresent, the delicate balance had been broken. Now, she understood how precious his presence in the team was; it was as much as how his absence affected her heart. His calm smile and exasperated nagging over the late General kept on replaying in her mind like a continuous loop.


    Nevertheless, she knew they were fighting a losing battle. Hence, she tried her best to lead the last of the exploration team to safety by making detour after detour to avoid direct confrontation with the giants with the help of Frieda. The little loli will keep on relaying the whereabouts of the giants'' clusters using the internal comms of their suits. Somehow, the giant clusters were moving in a group of five which increased their difficulty. Everyone was taking turns piggybacking the little girl while she did her job so that they could move swifter.


    After moving stealthily in between the grid-like arranged dome shaped buildings, the team came upon a large rundown half elliptical building. There were numerous damaged areas on this building, most probably from being bombarded by something, but as a whole, it looked quite intact. Taking the advantage when two groups of giant patrols swapping on the left wing of the building, they slipped inside through one of the small broken areas without making a sound. They have mutually agreed to catch their breath inside Frieda''s personal ''Rabbit'' in this location before going on the move again. The other two "Rabbits'' were left to Professor Rogers'' team and the military personnel on the other side of the artifact.


    Once Melati and co. entered inside the area, they wade through layers after layers of loose curtain-like cloths with a plastic-like texture only to find that they were inside a humongous weapon cache!


    Rows after rows of gigantic lances were neatly arranged systematically while a number of unknown black discs were stacked at one corner. At another side was filled with miniature-sized dark red cauldrons, suspended individually inside a steel frame cube-like structure. A seemingly cold air was emitted from a row of the closed cauldrons but was limited to within the confinement of the steel frame. Another row was filled with fire-like liquid, threatening to spill, but was similarly confined within the steel frame. On another corner of the warehouse-like weapon cache, they found something like a large feathered pen-like item inside three separate ornate boxes made from unfamiliar material. The glow from the boxes was what attracted their attention to have a look inside. There were only three of them as compared to the rest.


    Melati gave a questioning look tinged with worry towards the crown princess. Linneia''s face was devoid of color as she came into a sudden realization, "This is not a city! This is a military base!" Her legs threatened to turn to jelly. It''s like escaping from the jaw of a tiger only to enter the jaw of an alligator.


    "What shall we do now, Princess?" Melati asked after a short pause.


    With the current revelation, everyone was facing a sense of impending doom. Will they be able to escape?


    Linneia''s slightly trembling fingers accidentally touched one of the feathered old fashioned ''pen''. The plume was surprisingly sharp as opposed to how it looked!


    A tiny prick hurt Linneia''s gloved finger as the blood dripped on the pen-like item, staining it a little before she could do anything. It happened so fast before she could even pulled her hand away.The blood stain immediately disappeared, as if being absorbed by the ''pen''.


    The princess hurriedly checked her finger after canceling the alarms blaring inside her suit indicating an outside contamination. Once she took off her glove, she noticed a tiny but deep prick was made. Blood kept on flowing, staining the ornate box together with the tiled flooring. She quickly took an antiseptic spray given to her from one of the soldiers. Before she could seal the open puncture wound, she felt a strange tingling on her injured hand.


    In front of everyone''s unbelievable gaze, the large ''pen'' suddenly floated gently towards Linneia, resized to fit her palm, and automatically landed on her left injured hand. Before she could react, the ''pen'' sunk inside her skin and totally disappeared from their very eyes. Melati quickly prompted Linneia to initial body scan in case poisonous substance had invaded her body.


    While the scanning process took place, she turned to the little girl and asked, "What is going on over here?! Frieda, did you do something?" Frieda was the only person in their team who could make something disappear by teleporting them. Their crown princess, who just absorbed Raksha''s powers was still digesting it. Additionally, she still needed to understand the new power to be able to use it. Due to time constraint from being hounded nonstop, Linneia have no chance to try it.


    "I didn''t do anything! I swear, Big Sister!" Frieda denied with a drained expression.


    Linneia patted Frieda''s head to calm her down, "It''s alright. I''m fine. The recombinant system didn''t detect anything strange.."


    Frieda suddenly interrupted Linneia''s word, "Sister Princess! I can see a lot of them coming this way!" The high number of aura agglomeration made her extremely scared. It started off with tens of them, but rapidly increased to nearing a hundred!


    "They''re coming to this side!" In her mind, she could see an increasing number of aura congregating on the left side of the building.


    They started running to the right side of the building.Since the building was simply too huge, they ran as far as four kilometers to reach the other end. Frieda was so shocked when she saw the auras similarly moved towards the right!


    "Oh no! They know where we are! Now everyone was moving our way!"


    Melati made a solemn expression, "Are you sure, little one?" She needed to make sure before proceeding any further.


    "Yes!" An unmistakable fear was reflected from the sweet little girl''s eyes.


    Melati closed her eyes before speaking, "Princess, I think, they might have got me. I''m the only person who had made direct contact and killed their people before. There must be some kind of tracking method attached on me. Let''s part ways here. I suggest you make your way towards where we originally enter as I distracted them all to this side."


    Fear with an unwillingness was finally seen from Linneia''s face. Her calm demeanor had totally disappeared and filled with anguish and hopelessness.


    "Sis Melati.."


    "Don''t waste time anymore." Melati grabbed Linneia''s gloved hands with both of her own while giving the princess her warmest smile to calm her down.


    "Let''s just give our all. If we failed, we''ll die retaliating." Linneia''s eyes started tearing up; she couldn''t stop them from flowing. The rest of the soldiers nodded in agreement with conviction in their eyes. Even little Frieda was clinging to Melati''s neck while drowning with tears and snot, dirtying the internal compartment of the helmet. Melati was piggybacking her at the moment. Right now, she already disregarded the clusters of auras approaching fast from outside.


    "What are you talking about?! Especially you three! It''s your responsibility to take care of these ladies after this! And Princess, don''t forget. If we die, no one can save our people!"


    "But..but.."


    Melati slapped the princess'' face loudly to give her a wake up call. Although the helmet protected Linneia''s head, the impact rattled her.


    The princess was so stunned until she stopped moving. "Know your responsibility. Remember those promises from before." She lectured the princess sternly.


    She then sighed and held the princess'' shoulder firmly, and slowly placed the hands on top of her head after she removed her helmet. "Take my gift now."


    ...


    Linneia, Frieda and the three soldiers moved stealthily under the cover of Melati''s suicidal attacks. She had somehow activated a number of random weapons from the weapon cache which resulted in massive explosion. After that, while she was moving around, she traced the gigantic lances with her bare hands to teleport and embed them en masse into the chests of giants encircling her before the giants could use their wizard-like magic sonic wave attacks.


    At the end of the day, Linneia adamantly refused absorbing Melati''s powers despite her exhortations. She was still human. Taking away a witch''s ability will resort in her death, either slower or faster. She believed Melati could survive the encirclement and got away. The princess still hoped that they could regroup again once they manage to escape the military base ground. Due to that, they have agreed to a rendezvous location beforehand.


    Frieda led the rest away while being carried by one of the soldiers. They moved cautiously under the cover of buildings and blind spots while staying out from the path of incoming giants, avoiding them with great difficulty due to the sheer numbers. All of them were hurrying to Melati''s location which made them somewhat distracted and less guarded. Specific information of their whereabouts was not yet properly disseminated.


    Only due to this the group of five were able to safely escape the encirclement.


    Meanwhile, as a covert assassin from Sanctuary 3, Melati easily escaped the giants'' pursue after she made such a big mess of the weapon cache. However, she kept on being hounded again and again after some time.


    [I need to do something to remove whatever that have made them able to detect my location.] She scrunched her brow and clenched the customized ''Rabbit'' given to her by little Frieda. Melati looked left and right before she disappeared into the darkness.


    A few minutes later, a group of giants rushed over, panting. "The alien escaped again!"


    "How about the others?! I can''t see the rest with that alien!"


    "They have not spilled the blood of our race; hence we can''t detect them with this tracking formation. Let''s wait. Some of them will surface again soon!"


    ...


    The most troublesome woman was finally away. Right now, the princess was practically vulnerable. Danai hurriedly follow the two witches. She had been in this covert mission since the very beginning of the exploration team initial phase. She had killed off the soldier she''d transformed at the last military base and had stayed very low keyed since then.


    A simple observation mission had turned into a nasty one after two years as ''observation'' turned to ''assassination''. She got her commands just after the announcement of the Ancient Artifact''s function was released to Neverwinter. As an agent who believed in military might, the artifact was a form of escape from the inevitable. Its presence had turned the citizens and witches alike into wimps. She shared the same sentiments on everyone should be working together in preparation of the biggest war the planet had ever faced since the War of Divine Will. This divide will only lead to a weakness in military operations later.


    Looking at how murderous the Kohitens were made Danai believed her actions to be right. She needed to end this farce and return to the other side. The corpse of the crown princess will serve as a fuel for every citizen alive to struggle hard in the incoming battle. At least they will die in dignity without shaming their ancestors.


    [For the greater good.] She affirmed her conviction. Outwardly, she had her camouflaged masculine solemn look on. No other emotions which could betray her inner thoughts was shown.


    ..


    It has been 28 hours since the five-man team was on the run. Most probably, they were nearing the end of boundary for the military base as a reddish mountainous area was seen not too far ahead. Linneia was glad that the view of the nearest mountain was getting clearer and bigger. It showed that it was real and wasn''t just a play on their sight. She estimated that they needed less than five kilometers to reach the mountainous region. However, what worried them the most was the barren landscape in front of them. There was not a single blade of grass present, nor a single boulder, for cover. Strangely, not a single shadow of a giant was present in the vicinity. It made their internal alarm bells rang loudly in their heads. From this point on out, they would''ve exposed themselves if they just waltzed in without any plans.


    Hence, huddling together inside the nearest abandoned wreckage of a building, they agreed to rest for a few hours before making the final push towards the mountainous regions through the barren land with their recombinant suits. Little Frieda looked like she was going to collapse soon. The continuous usage of her ability had drained her physically and mentally. Drafting the last bits of it, she made a last check on hostile auras from the surrounding perimeters for confirmation before dunking her bottom on the dusty floor tiredly. She gave a thumbs up towards the other four and immediately closed her eyes to catch a power nap.


    Linneia could only shook her head with a bland smile. She felt bitter inside for being so useless. She had to depend on a small girl to avoid the giants. Her biggest worry was Melati''s indirect assistance in attracting most of the pursuing giants to her side. She had not received any response back since then. She pressed a button on her wrist and answered a few conformation questions before the suit automatically dismantled from her body and rearranged itself into a belt. two wrist bands, and outer boots. Looking at the suit only reminded her of her great grandfather''s calm face. She needed to be more like him. Taking off the thick boots made from pieces of recombinant suit, she sat crossed legged on a concrete-like flat surface and massaged her own feet tiredly. Seeing their princess took off her own suit with ease, the other three soldiers followed suit.


    Linneia could only smile at their actions. She knew, like her, everyone was not accustomed with wearing the suit for extended period of time. Only little Frieda could sleep in the suit as she was too tired to think of anything else. Taking a warm meal from the hands of a soldier, she gingerly ate with a feeling of gratefulness. Since little Frieda was asleep, her warmed meal was left in front of her. Everyone had their own ration in silence.


    One soldier took the first watch, while giving the others an hour''s worth of rest. With the last ''Rabbit'' in the hands of Melati, they have lost the comforts of a base. However, she was unperturbed; Melati needed it more than all of them. Right now, they could only make do and find a suitable position to get some rest in between the wreckage.


    ...


    Frieda opened her weary eyes to the smell of food mixed with rusty iron in the air. Her limbs were still aching here and there as she had fallen asleep without removing her recombinant suit combined with her already fatigued body.


    Her first sight fell on the compressed reheated meal in front of her. It was already cold. Her confused eyes glanced over her surroundings to find the source of the strange smell only to noticed two soldiers was slumped in a pool of blood around ten meters away from her. Their throats have been cut deeply and the blood was still gushing out. However, they were not struggling; it''s like they were sleeping.


    She stopped herself from screaming immediately! They were under attack from an unknown enemy right now!


    [Sister Princess! Where is she!] She can''t find the princess in her immediate surrounding. She pushed herself up weakly to get a better view. She knew her magic reservoir was severely lacking right now. With what was recovered during her rest just now, she might only observe for incoming hostile aura for three to four times. She could teleport most probably for a single time.


    Raising her head up a little higher, she saw the last brother soldier who piggybacked her just now was on the verge of stabbing the sleeping princess at her neck. Without even thinking, she closed her eyes instantly and summoned the last bit of her strength to teleport in front of the soldier in the hopes of stopping him on time.


    ...


    Linneia''s deep sleep was interrupted by a splash of warm liquid drenching her face and half of her body. A dead weight fell on top of her which has jolted her wide awake in a split second.


    "Frieda! Oh Frieda!" Tears streamed down her face, diluting the red blood gushing out from the little loli''s heart.


    The assailant was frozen on the spot. It was an accident. Danai wasn''t planning to hurt the little girl since she was the only one who could act as a radar to avoid incoming hostile giants. The rest of the soldiers needed to be disposed off to avoid unwanted retaliation. However, the girl had appeared too sudden, she hadn''t the time to stop her stab.


    Linneia cradled the little girl into her lap. "Sister Princess, it''s my turn to leave you. It''s all up to you now." She pulled Linneia''s hand with trembling tiny fingers and placed it on her head. Both of them knew she was asking the princess to harvest her ability. Linneia''s flooded vision suddenly turned white. She lost all of her senses at that moment.


    The stress combined with anguish from the death of Frieda had triggered an unknown ability within her which she had never possessed before. Particle of light started to congregate around her and fluctuated with undulation; like a breathing organism. Linneia was currently in a half-conscious state. Tears of blood were leaking from her iris-less eyes. Since Linneia was in a trance due to being in the middle of comprehending an ability, Frieda used her mental power to help initiate the absorption process with her dying breath. Frieda''s consciousness faded once the ability absorption process started.


    Shit. I need to stop her now! With every new addition of power, Linneia''s magic core will mutate into a stronger one. Danai was afraid she couldn''t contend the Crown Princess of Graycastle. She already had a surplus of Raksha''s power before. The assassin-witch pounced towards Linneia with a bloodied knife in her hand but was stopped by a large energy field generated from the absorption of ability on Linneia''s side. Frieda''s power was extremely strong and astonishing.


    A gigantic pen suddenly appeared midair and penetrated Danai''s body making a clean gaping hole followed by a splurge of bloods and innards. In front of Danai''s shocked gaze, the pen resized to a smaller shape and re-entered Linneia''s hand just like that. It was the missing giant-sized plumed pen they saw inside the weapon''s cache! Her body was nearly cut to two pieces as she died with a shocked expression on her face¡­


    ¡­


    Linneia stood up after the absorption was over. Frieda has already turned into particles. The dead soldier had turned into an unfamiliar woman with the same shocked gazed.


    She knew the woman must be a witch. She whispered sadly, "Why?"


    She walked up to the woman''s corpse and placed her hands on the woman''s head.


    "This is compensation." Similarly, the woman''s corpse turned to particles. Linneia knew the magic core within a witch dissipated at a different rate for different individual. Her instinct told her that she had managed to salvage half of the woman''s dissipating magic core. She was still confused on how the woman had died. In fact, the absorption process was the best opportunity to kill her off.


    She could already hear the steps of the giants. She immediately activated her recombinant suit and dashed out through the rubble at full speed!


    ...


    The giants kept on pursuing Linneia as she pushed the suit at full throttle, crossing the five kilometer mark. Surprisingly, a kilometer further in, all the giants suddenly stopped moving. Linneia made a bewildered look and quickly fly forward into the mountain range.


    Unknown to Linneia, they have entered the meditation region of the last Kohiten''s protector, Grandmaster Olfafas. The Grandmaster have prohibited everyone from entering except for a selected few a long time ago. Normally, all the giant would''ve followed the unspoken rule of not traversing the Grandmaster''s personal ground, but due to all the vigor and bloodlust, they had simply lost their reasoning and trudged forward.


    Once being stuck by a gentle barrier, they had finally regained their sensed. One by one, every single giant started to prostrate on the dirt floor and knocked their heads repeatedly without making a sound.


    Linneia had missed the prostrating spectacle made by the giants. If not, she would''ve turned back and risked braving through them.


    As she reached at the foot of the mountain, a deep voice resounded in Kohiten, "I''ve been waiting for you for a long time, little one."

 34 Regaining Hope in the Mountain Sanctuary

    A silhouette of an old-looking large giant, even to the standard of a normal giant, with wrinkly gray skin and bald head gestured gently towards the trembling princess from the secret entrance at the foot of the mountain. Currently, despair had penetrated deep into her bones; she only operated based on the promises she lavishly tossed to her deceased team members, now feeling how heavy each and every promise was. She had fallen into the lion''s den yet again. Her comrades had fallen one after another, and even her final hope, the competent Melati, was yet to be found.


    Linneia stood rooted to the ground, unable to take a step forward or backwards. She had been surrounded from the front and the back. How should she proceed from here? Her recombinant suit''s power was at its lowest after her final burst just now. Currently, she could only depend on her own strength without external assistance.


    As the intelligent princess'' mind tried to think a way out, a soft wind beckoned Linneia forward. Linneia wasn''t able to stop herself from being dragged forward through the entrance!


    "Come over, child." The giant called for the second time in the ancient Kohiten language from a large seat made of reddish stone.


    Panic welled inside of Linneia''s mind. As hard as she struggled, she couldn''t break free from the beckoning of the ''wind'' generated by the giant. From her haphazard observation, she had confirmed that the mountain she aimed for turned out to be the dwelling of this old giant. Yet again, she knew that she had made a wrong decision this time. She had even chosen this location as the rendezvous point to meet up with Melati! Without the ability to notify Melati, her last surviving team member would only fell easily into this ready-made trap because of her.


    Linneia had failed to consider the possibility of the mountain to be a dwelling due to its gargantuan size. During normal days, the princess would''ve connected the dots and became more cautious in her selection. However, being hounded nonstop, with insufficient rest, coupled with the stress of losing her comrades had dulled her mind as well as bringing her to the brink of a mental breakdown.


    After she had managed to calm herself, she finally took the time to looked at her surroundings. She noticed that the interior had been hollowed out into a spacious hall devoid of things except for two items; a large sturdy seat made of stones, and a platform beside it, containing a suspended purple crystal in the shape of a lotus flower. The crystal gently rotated on the spot while refracting a soft purplish light. The giant stood up and took slow steps towards Linneia. Every step it took upon the glossed cave floor was accompanied by a surreal echo, reverberating continuously with its next step. Once it was just a few feet away, it knelt down on one knee in front of the princess to her eye level.


    Linneia could see a wizened gentle feature with wisdom saturated in its slightly turbid dark gray eyes. From this giant, the feature of a gentle being with high empathy was very evident; contrasting the murderous giants outside.


    "This old one is known as Olfalfas. I am truly sorry for your loss." It held Linneia''s shoulder with sad eyes. It knew what had happen to this little one''s comrades.


    "Elder, why? We have expressed our stand so many times! Why did all of you still attack us?" The princess whispered with a broken old Kohiten. She was already in the hands of a strong expert of the giants. Hence, at least before she dies, she needed to know the enigma behind the Kohiten''s bloodlust-filled pursuit. Linneia felt that all her comrades died due to her wrong judgement and decision. It felt like a heavy stone was pressed on her chest, suffocating and pressuring her heart and mind.


    Grandmaster Olfalfas could only sighed deeply, "Naive child¡­ Alas we have just gone through a terrible war which lasted for a few centuries. The hateful enemies came through the teleportation formation and devastate our lands, killing our people until only less than half of the population was left before we managed to force them to retreat and sealed the formation. Everyone out there had lost someone in that terrible war, and the wounds were still fresh and bleeding. You must understand the fear of being invaded again, losing your clansmen in the process." It patted the head of the indignant princess lightly. Although Linneia was wearing her recombinant helmet, to her astonishment, she could feel a gentle breeze directly entered her head and cooled it down. Her agitated mind had significantly calmed own.


    "This is a terrible, terrible timing." The elder giant added. "Perhaps, after a thousand years or so, when everyone''s heart is healed, you will not receive such treatment especially when you have the ability to speak our language."


    The explanation by the elder giant in front of her made her dumbfounded for a whole minute. She now bitterly understood the aggressive retaliation of the other hunters out there. However, it sparked another big question within her, "Then, why didn''t you kill me?" Linneia morose tone reverberated inside the spacious dark hall.


    Although Linneia now possessed the magic reservoir equaled to more than three witches, it was impossible for her to harness it currently. It was like in possession of a double-edged sword; capable of hurting her enemies and herself at the same time. It needed meticulous training for her to gain the ability to control her mutated magic core. Additionally, she had zero experience to practice her ability since she had decided to depend on herself to progress further once she knew what kind of power she possessed. As such, even if she tried to fight it out with the giant in front of her, she might just implode from losing control without achieving a single thing.


    "The truth is it has been too long since the migration and no previous precedence had occurred. At that time, I was only a child, not understanding a single thing. However, the predecessors had once spoken that the seal of a guardian could only have one exception; it could only be unraveled by the true ancient power-writings from our original homeland. Thus, that makes you and me to originate from the same homeland."


    Grandmaster Olfalfas looked towards the ceiling of the hall as its gaze penetrated through to observe. Linneia could feel that the elder could peer through the ceiling to see through the heavens. It reminded her of her own people''s current predicament. The people from the other planets were truly dangerous and filled with ill-intent.


    Olfalfas extended its large hands with sorrow and reminiscence, "Will you ever forgive us?"


    Linneia was seething with indignance and deep grievance. If only they communicated properly. All of this could be prevented. She can''t help but feel that her comrades had died in vain. Tears streamed down her face as she refused to reply Olfalfas question. She countered with a new request, "Elder, please save my last surviving comrade. Don''t let her die in vain like the others."


    ...


    Olfalfas sighed deeply after it arranged a suitable room for the little human it met inside its compound. With this, the vengeful warriors outside won''t be able to touch her anymore. It had already tried its best to heal her mind, but the level of emotional distress she was facing was too high. It could only lower down its level to reduce mental breakdown. It understood how the human was feeling. It really hoped that the human''s comrade was still alive somewhere. It had already sent down a strict order to stop the fervent pursuit to forcefully clamp down further conflict.


    Olfalfas returned to its seat and started pondering with deep astonishment at the burst of familiar energy it felt from the human just now. It had hide it well to avoid alarming the human.


    [Is she the successor that I''ve been waiting for all this while? How could this be possible? She''s a different race! Is it because of the origin power-writings she encountered when using the portal?]


    Question after question swirled inside Olfalfas'' mind.


    Olfalfas had been looking for a successor for more than a thousand years prior to this. It was the last protector of this land who could seal the formation gate and the heavens above this planet from external invasion. Even now, outside threats bombarded the sealed gate and the heavens and it knew that its time was coming. Once it succumbed, not a single Kohiten could stop incoming invasion.


    Genius after genius of its people had tested themselves year after year yet had failed its tests. It had even conducted the tests during the period of war in its desperation to find a successor. Strangely, not one of its clansmen was compatible with the three power-writing artifacts after the passing of their previous owners.


    [Maybe, this is fated.] It concluded.


    As night approached the horizon, the grandmaster''s physical disposition slowly changed. The bald head was slowly filled with long voluminous white hair as the old wizened look became feminized. Right now, if Linneia see Grandmaster Olfalfas, she would''ve been so shocked. As the sun finally set, Grandmaster Olfalfas had fully transformed into a being with woman-like features. It took out a finger-length blue stick and coifed its hair expertly into an elegant bun.


    "My successor is here! She will be my disciple no matter what!" A fiery aura filled with callousness were emitted from the grandmaster. Or perhaps, grandmistress. It was clear that currently, it was devoid of its previous wizened personality.


    Half of the Kohiten giants'' population were neutral-gendered. The gentle side was recorded in the codex but the callous side had failed to appear. Besides having an ability to power up their writings and words, they were unique in the sense that they possessed dual personalities. Each personality was attributed to a single gender. However, this part of records was already lost through the annals of history.


    ...


    After strict order had been sent down from the Grandmaster itself, none of the hunters dared to openly hound the last remaining alien which was currently at large. At least not on the surface. Covert huntings were still being performed. Day after day, no signs of the alien had been spotted, which increased the agitation of the hunters. However, the death toll on the hunters'' side increased every single day; a testament of how dangerous the alien was. Voices of dissatisfaction started to be heard during daily congregation with the current Patriarch of the Kohiten to denounce the previous order made by the Grandmaster. Some even demanded the execution of the other alien currently being protected by the Guardian of the Land.


    Away from all of the hubbub, the mountain sanctuary belonging to Grandmaster Olfalfas was serene and without disturbance. Only two beings lived within the region.


    It has been a week since the last incident. The grandmaster, or at that moment, the grandmistress, had manage to convince Linneia to go under its wings after forceful coercion. It even personally guided Linneia on how to master and consolidate her own ability with a new method Linneia had never seen before.


    According to it, Linneia''s ability was showing signs of fracturing due to its instability. For a witch, mental strength grew hand in hand with the maturation of one''s own ability. The stronger a witch was, the higher the requirement towards mental strength. However, in Linneia''s case, the strength of three witches were forcefully poured into her magic core while her mental strength wasn''t strong enough to support the sudden surge of potent energy. Without mastering her own ability in time, it could lead to destabilization and eventually her demise.


    Thus, the grandmaster sealed the unstable magic core inside a chrysalis to help delay her demise. The chrysalis was made from thousands of tiny chains of power-writings. Once her mental strength matured to a level which could accommodate her new powers after enough tempering, the chains of power-writings will break one by one. At that moment, Linneia could safely master all of the absorbed ability.


    "Crackkkkkkk.."


    A silent cracking sound was felt within Linneia body, only felt by her and her alone. The solid chrysalis, specifically one of the thousands tiny chains covering her magic core were finally showing signs of breaking one by one.


    The princess was currently in a lying position on a reddish stone platform with both of her hands placed together on her abdomen. Without her realizing, the plumed pen was absorbing the light from the purple crystal on top of the platform and at the same time, it automatically moved to produce words after words midair, just above her head. The words were in Kohiten and they were shining a bright light purple shade. After a lengthy passage was written, the words then sunk into Linneia''s body before a new set of words was automatically written again. She didn''t open her closed eyes, and yet, sweat was trickling down her face as she tightened her brows. Not far from her, Grandmaster Olfalfas was observing while nodding with appreciation.


    Linneia abruptly opened her iris-less eyes. Light spewed outwards as she instinctively shot out her consciousness towards the familiar yet faint flickering gray-silver aura far in the distance. The aura was like a tiny glowing silver flame as large as a sesame seed, contrasting the pitch-black darkness, making it very conspicuous. At the moment, she experienced the out-of-body sensation as she traveled through space, while holding that bit of aura as her lighthouse in the middle of a ferocious thunderstorm. With the help of the distinct purple writings melded inside her consciousness, it easily penetrated through the layer of invisible shield covering the land as it continued towards the direction of the tiny lighthouse.


    Linneia drifted in silence. She had forgotten how long it has been.


    Until her own consciousness touched the glowing silver flame.


    Linneia gasped.


    [It''s Great grandfather!]


    ...

 35 Determination of a Princess

    Roland was jolted with the sudden influx of mental energy he directly received from Linneia.


    [Great grandfather Immortal King. I am Linneia. Everyone is dead. However, I will persist. Do not open the portal artifact regardless of anything at the moment. The inhabitants of this planet are hostile towards outsiders. Believe in me and give me some time. I will find a way. I will not fail our people.]


    Sadness loomed over his ageless feature as the images of Frieda, Raksha, Solstis and Melati fleeted over his mind one after another. He understood that since Linneia directly contacted him, it meant that Frieda was already dead. Only Frieda could transcend through time and space to contact him via telepathy. Her gift was the strongest. She would''ve been the most ideal aide to assist her great granddaughter in the future through these perilous times. She must have forcefully passed her gift to Linneia before her death. Knowing his great granddaughter, he knew she would never trigger her absorption ability even in desperate times.


    Roland habitually tapped his study with his index finger while organizing his thoughts.


    He then linked up his VIRCOFF to relay information towards the group waiting at the ancient artifact and to cancel their rescue operation. He has full confidence that his great granddaughter will pull this through.


    ...


    Linneia had finally returned to her own body after sending that string of messages. Her mind felt sluggish and a deep fatigue as her whole body felt sore and drained. She can''t even lift her hands. That short moment of contact had nearly sapped her out totally.However, for once, she felt positive after all that she had gone through.


    Unknown to her, her out-of-body experience took more than two days. She felt like she had just close her eyes and reopened them again after a few short moments. It was currently night time and the giant who guided her was not around.


    She closed her eyes again hurriedly and tried to reach out to Melati. Try as she may, she couldn''t detect any ''flame'' at all. Even the tiny silver flame representing her great grandfather was gone. She knew, without identifying the ''flame'', she won''t be able to find Melati. Even Frieda wasn''t able to teleport without the help of aura detection.


    After contemplating for some time, Linneia decided to spread her mental energy in the form of a net. If she could contact her great grandfather a few galaxies away before, supposedly she should''ve been able to contact Melati. The invisible net slowly formed after a number of tries. She then extended it forward cautiously and added layers after layers so that she could cover all locations. She could only do that since she was unfamiliar with Melati''s personal aura. Her mental energy slowly spread to cover one meter... two meter.. five meter.. ten meter.. one hundred meter..a thousand meter..


    At this point, suddenly she felt extreme pain coursing through her mind. Her head felt like splitting and blood oozed out through her nostrils.


    "Stop it! Stop it right now!!" Grandmistress Olfalfas shouted shrilly at its new disciple. "You''re not strong enough yet! What are you doing?!"


    Linneia ignored the giant''s shout and continued pushing herself. Blood started to drip out from her ears.


    Grandmistress Olfalfas dashed forward and held Linneia''s head. "Sleep!" It sent a forceful command to shut down Linneia''s mind. Its disciple was in the verge of destroying herself.


    Linneia blacked out.


    ...


    Linneia opened her eyes groggily as she heard a loud noise mixed with a loud ringing sound. Her head felt heavy. Once the ringing dissipated, she could finally identify the loud noises to originate from outside her room. She pushed herself up from the stone platform serving as her bed. Her limbs felt weak, but she persisted forward.


    As she slowly approached the doorway to her room and peered out, she saw the giant in its bald form sitting on its chair in the middle of the hall, facing another smaller giant. The smaller giant was reporting to Grandmaster Olfalfas, "The alien outside is surrounded at the moment! Grandmaster, this humble one couldn''t stop them from attacking the alien!"


    "I have said not to hurt her! Is my words have no meaning anymore?" Grandmaster Olfalfas was in its rare moments of anger.


    "This humble one didn''t mean it that way, Grandmaster. It is so strong as it keeps on retaliating. At the moment it had killed six of the hunters! The hunters had already lost their minds."


    Linneia barged forward and pleaded with everything she got, "Grandmaster! Please, help my friend! Please! I beseech you!" She went down on her knees and banged her forehead on the floor while shedding tears. "Grandmaster, she''s the only one left. Please help me. I will follow whatever you command in the future!"


    A large hand pulled her up from the side. Grandmaster Olfalfas observed the little human''s face. In her eyes, it could see deep sorrow and fiery determination. It knew if it didn''t assent to her request, she would run out to help her friend. "Child, let''s go."


    Linneia nodded while crying.


    The giant who relayed the message to Grandmaster Olfalfas watched the duo with a baffled expression. For as long as it remembered, the Grandmaster had refused to take a single step outside of the mountain sanctuary, distancing itself from worldly matters. It had placed its duty as the Guardian of the Land at top priority, knowing that with a slight inattentiveness, their defense could be breached by the foreign forces. Through its current action of willingly interfering with the apprehending of the last and most dangerous alien, it was very clear that the Grandmaster showed high favor for the alien under its protection.


    It seemed that it needed to bring this up in front of the Patriarch.


    ...


    Presently, nobody knew that Linneia has been officially accepted as the Grandmaster''s sole disciple. It was within Olfalfas intention to groom Linneia to be its next successor after confirming her ownership to one of the heavenly ink brushes. It had no choice; thousands of years of waiting was finally rewarded with this tiny yet talented human. She only took less than a week to comprehend the immense spiritual power within her. It had not seen this kind of talent for the longest time. Besides that, her compatibility with the heavenly cloud ink brush had made her able to perform her own power-writing. Only, she herself hadn''t realize it. Thus, Olfalfas was reluctant to let her go.


    They hurriedly moved towards the location mentioned by the attendant to save Melati. Shouts and screams filled the bare lands, as the assassin-witch countered each attack she received with the most gruesome manner. The dead giants lying around were without eyeballs, as if they have been wrenched out forcefully from their sockets. In the middle of it all, the witch stood her ground stubbornly. Squashed internal organs piled around her, knee deep, as the faint smell of death permeated around her. She looked as if she was going to fall with just a passing soft breeze.


    However, once Linneia came close enough to see her comrade, the witch was already too weak, bordering on unconsciousness. Linneia ran forward and hugged the seriously injured Melati without bothering about the hunters encircling them, knowing that the Grandmaster would help protect the both of them. Melati''s taut body finally slackened once she felt the familiar scent of the princess.


    A booming voice in Kohiten reverberated around the hunters, "Stand down!" The appearance of Grandmaster Olfalfas had made all giants within the area prostrated in deference. They didn''t dare to lift their faces though their hearts were unhappy with the matter. This was the first time the Grandmaster appeared in the military base after the war.


    Melati fell to the ground once all the tension in her body left her. Linneia quickly supported her and placed her on the ground. Weakly, she inquired, "Are you alright, Princess?"


    Linneia nodded with anguish. The wounds on Melati''s body was too severe. She had no chance to survive this ordeal.


    "How about the others?" The action of looking around for their other comrades made Linneia''s eyes turned red with sadness. She didn''t answer, but only shook her head bitterly.


    "Even Frieda?"


    "Yes."


    Melati took out the Rabbit from her bosom with trembling fingers. Her grim expression was gone, replaced with sadness and helplessness. "Princess, don''t forget our mission. Our lives are tied to the lives of countless people at home." She placed Frieda''s Rabbit in Linneia''s palm, closed it, and held it tight. Slowly she pulled the palm to her head with determination.


    Melati''s words hardened Linneia''s resolve yet again. From what she saw until now, she knew that the Giants won''t be able to tolerate outsider''s existence. This had made her stop and think whether the notion was possible with the current horrible sentiments she felt from the giant''s race. She would only hurt the Grandmaster''s standing in the process once she requested for a place on this land. Moreover, she was indebted to the old giant for saving her life. What she needed now was power. Only power could help her to find a way out of this predicament. After all, power is law, wherever they are.


    This time she accepted Melati''s ability with determination. She initiated her gift.


    Sensing the change in the crown princess'' demeanor, Melati smiled from the depth of her heart for once. She knew, the princess had finally shed off her na?ve thinking and had metamorphosed into a competent leader. She could finally rest now.


    ...


    The death of Melati had made the Grandmaster felt guilty. Due to that, it had used all its powers to fend off the attacks from the elders and even the Patriarch of the land to protect its disciple. The more protective the Grandmaster was towards the outsider, the stronger the verbal attacks came pouring down on the head of the Patriarch, urging it to relieve the unconditional independent power the Grandmaster had in his grasp. These people were feeling threatened by the outsider''s presence. They felt that the previous calamity was looming close. Bombardments of elders asking for the execution of the alien coupled with incarcerating the Grandmaster for treason were getting louder.


    The Grandmaster ignored all retaliation as it knew its importance towards the nation. It was the only entity who could control and harness the power of the purple crystal to form a barrier between the heavens and the lands. Truthfully, the only other person who could harness the purple crystal''s power in the future would be its disciple. However, from how the masses reacted, it will never divulge the truth to them all. If not, Linneia could be targeted for this.


    After Melati''s death, Linneia was like a different person.


    She worked extremely hard to understand the Grandmaster''s teachings to deepen her knowledge on harnessing the power-writings. The Grandmaster was satisfied with this exemplary disciple. She always posed profound questions after questions in the bid to grasp the new knowledge. Linneia contacted her great grandfather once a month to update him of her current condition and to receive additional guidance. Together, they formed a plan centering on her as she worked hard to master her new ability and the power writings.


    A year passed by just like that.


    On the reddish stone platform, Linneia''s floating consciousness was weaving a comprehension net. Once she understood a small section, she wrote with her mind. She had repeated the actions again and again, under the supervision of the Grandmaster and her great grandpa from afar. The plumed pen released elegant Kohiten writings, enforcing her consciousness'' to the comprehension net. This was the final three thousandth node.


    Once the writings were done, Linneia mind burst into fragments. A suction force from the purple crystal pulled back the scattered fragment and slowly her consciousness reformed. This time, the crown princess of Graycastle had finally experienced a major breakthrough and comprehended the "Law of Space and Displacement".


    ...


    Flashes of purple lighting struck the middle of a rainforest as the clouds darkened ominously. The scent of rain pervaded the air. It was the smell of negative and positive charges in the air clashing against each other. Surprisingly, the lightning strikes converged on the largest tree, burning it down to cinders.


    Nothing was left. The majestic tree collapsed into a heap of black ashes. Some of the cinders were still glowing slightly yellow, indicating the high temperature of the stricken location.


    In the middle of it, Linneia Wimbledon stood up from a half-kneeling position. With a dazzling confident smile on her face, she observed the unfamiliar surroundings. It seemed like a success. She had finally managed to cross between worlds.She could move to the next phase of her plan now.

 36 Graycastle’s Preparation Phase for the Final Stand

    The sound of ceramic shattering was heard inside a beautifully decorated garden within a dome-shaped glass-paned enclosure. The gigantic enclosure was floating in space with only a single dock, indicating that it was a private space-lodge. A couple of spaceships were parked at the dock.


    The charming ladies who were accompanying a refined looking young man shivered in fear. Their coquettish murmuring banters were abruptly stopped. They knew the tea party was over and quickly excused themselves with random reasons and bolted like startled little birds. Most of the spaceships docking at the artificial garden went off within ten minutes.


    Everyone was extremely proficient at giving the young man the privacy that he needed even without being prompted. They knew how callous and fickle the young man could be when he was placed in a bad mood and what will happened to them if they stay longer than expected.


    The handsome man''s face was clouded with anger as he stared at his subordinate without speaking while waiting for the remaining guests to disperse.


    The eerie silence followed made the subordinate sweated profusely. He knew he had done a dismal job but was helpless with his current predicament. After a while, the subordinate cleared his throat and try to defend himself out of fear, "Young master Wales, I had done everything I could to lobby the individuals involved with extraordinary compensation, as per your request. Half of them had already sided with us until this hotblooded fellow, Prosecutor Aidern takes over the case. His background is as solid as yours---"


    Blood gushed out of his neck. He quickly held the wound on his neck in an attempt to stem the gushing blood from flowing out like a torrential river but to no avail. As his life faded away with his blood drenching the artificial grass, he realized the main artery in his neck had been stabbed with a broken teacup although he had never seen the young master moved even a little. Regret clouded his eyes, but no one had the chance to know anymore as he stopped breathing within seconds..


    Wales removed his gloves expressionlessly. A maid hurriedly poured a new cup of premium tea into a new porcelain teacup with steady hands. Another was clearing the table and replacing freshly made pastries with high efficiency. It seemed that they had been too accustomed with the same scenario that happened today.


    A butler walked in with a set of gloves on a silver tray and stood just beside the young man. He bowed low to deliver the new pristine white gloves with reverence. Wales took the new set and wore them nonchalantly.


    "Incompetency has its price." He stood up and walked a few paces towards a large bioluminescent blue rose and inhaled deeply, "That damn Aidern had barred my path a number of times since the olden days. I have given him some face as we were friends and ignored it before but now he needs to know the consequences."


    "Young Master, you need to consider this further. He is after all, the successor of the Velasquez family; one of the founding fathers of the Empire, just like you."


    "Astron, I can''t touch him now as you say. Yet. Once this operation is successful and my position in the family solidifies as the main heir, I''ll be able to extinguish him."


    Wales took the time to ruminate something in his mind in silence.


    In three days, fifty percent of the main family''s personal army was mobilized towards the sector harboring the Energy Harvesting Wheel. They numbered at a hundred thousand. This shows the importance of the mining operation to the Estrella family. As the head of operation this time, the young master of the Estrella Conglomerate himself led the army to show his dedication to the family. The higher-ups had unanimously agreed to publicly approve of his right as the sole heir once the operation succeeded.


    ...


    After the first attack from space, all the attackers'' spaceships wreckage was salvaged by the Research Institute for the sake of research. Within two months'' time, the Witch Union had managed to achieve a significant breakthrough in space technology with the help of physicists, engineering experts and industrial giants after they had joined hands to study the newfound technology and the principles used together.


    A new revolutionized FTL 2.0 engine was developed together by the experts. Additionally, hundreds of stable Quarters with the ability to perfectly support life in a sustainable cycle were made every week, but they were simply not enough due to the overwhelming number of inhabitants waiting to enter the bunkers. At the same time, streams of spaceship models were introduced in tandem with the advancement of livable Quarters. New space carrier models with large capacity, fighter jets and recombinant suits were manufactured en masse once they had passed a series of tests.


    With the finance of the many races cooperating with Graycastle, monetary asset had never been an issue. Only, the high consumption rate of raw materials and natural resources had exceeded the planet''s overall production, worrying the masses. It was only a matter of time before they exhausted their planet''s resources following this trend of unbridled consumption.


    ¡­


    In a secret metallic room deep underground, Alethea heard a series of knocks on the reflective dark screen on one side of her room. The ex-Elder Witch had been incarcerated inside the room for a little more than three months. She had no means to know what was going on the surface nor what was the current progress.


    The only thing she was sure was her being alive meant that the current government was still standing and well. She knew it was just the calm before the storm.


    "There is no need to knock. I''m the prisoner here." She harrumphed with disdain.


    Truthfully, she had not been ill-treated even for a single moment since she was apprehended not too long ago. In fact, her living standards were not far from what she usually had. Only the lack of freedom to move, subordinates and means to collect information had made her felt stuffy and frustrated, just like a frog in a well.


    "You look well, Alethea. How was life here?" A familiar but annoying voice sounded from the other side of the dark screen. After a few second, the screen slid to the side revealing a smiling face that was so familiar to her. She noticed Roland was carrying a slim metallic briefcase and three identical-looking intricately-carved silver bracelets.


    Alethea''s eyes narrowed as she didn''t miss the tiny details. Their immortal king was not a person who''s fond of jewelries.


    "It''s like being in a retirement home. I''m going to die out of boredom." Alethea shrugged unhappily. Deep in her heart, she was very surprised with Roland''s appearance.


    "What do you want, your Highness? Just here to stop and chat? Or you want to hear me to say I''m sorry?"


    Roland''s expression turned serious. "Enough with that attitude, Alethea. I''m here to discuss an important matter with you. Shall we have some tea while discussing or you prefer coffee?"


    After spending six hours inside Alethea''s incarceration cell, Roland left. The briefcase and the silver bracelets were gone from his hands.


    Not long later, a ray of astral light emerged from the depth of Sanctuary 3. No one noticed Alethea''s disappearance nor her departure towards the open space for the second time except for Roland.


    ...


    Six months after the attack on Neverwinter airspace, a reshuffling in the military''s chain-of-command was executed out of the blue. To the shock of the public, the ex-leader of the Military Faction which was supposed to be incarcerated indefinitely was pardoned by the Immortal King. Another bombshell fell when the pardoned ex-elder witch had been appointed with the title of Grand Marshall to a newly created space-military division.


    Grand Marshall Alethea Silverstrom has been given the highest position in the space-military regiment, equivalent to the most prominent position in the military of Graycastle which were currently being held by three other persons; Grand Marshall Dennington Louis for land-military, Grand Marshall Sharvina Shavi for airforce, and Grand Marshall Hammad Asklanni for navy. The decision was vetoed by the Immortal King Roland Wimbledon, despite the voice of dissent from the masses. However, due to the majority of the main government body which was fully controlled by the Pacifist Faction, the Witch Union, and Sanctuary 3 supported the immortal king''s decision unanimously, no one could stop the granting of military power to the fourth newly appointed Grand Marshall. Everyone could only place their trust in the wisdom of the Immortal King.


    The new Grand Marshall did not waste her time and make a worldwide announcement of large-scale recruitment specifically for the space-military division. She emphasized the need of fearless warriors who weren''t afraid to die in space as her main criterion of choice.


    A lot of hotblooded Graycastle military men and women, guest generals, and other races who entered the military applied for a change in division just so that they could enter the space-military regiment, tipping the balance in the distribution of personnel to skew towards the space division. Similarly, the population of able bodied males and females in bunkers reduced significantly, leaving only a small number of them maintaining peace and caring for the old, the sick and the young. Many unaffiliated witches and experts in seclusion from other empires emerged out of nowhere, as they answered the new Grand Marshall call-to-arms.


    Shockingly, the new Grand Marshall''s networking and connection was so vast that even the other races such as the Orcs, Dwarfs, Elfs, Onis and Treants enlisted. An influx of more than two million orcs had further shocked the whole world; it was practically every person of their race banded together including the young and old!


    Understandably, no news from the crown princess of Graycastle''s exploration team for a few months had nearly extinguished the hope of the people. The waiting had been arduous and had grated on everyone''s nerves even how restraint they were. They now could do something besides pray. If they should die, then they should at least drag their enemies with them! The new Grand Marshall''s division was exactly the channel for them to do something rather than nothing with their puny personal power.


    As the space battalion increased in numbers at an alarming pace, they immediately performed rigorous space-related drills and exercises with the newly appointed generals under the new Grand Marshall. They were then immediately transported out with space carriers to distant locations unknown to the public. Money, assets and military equipment kept on being pumped into the space-military division as the government seemed to forgo other options and choose war.


    ...


    Roland read through the underground highway construction progress report delivered to him in his Cerebral Connector seriously. Both Roland and Anna had the technology installed with a small operation when they had the chance previously. After extensively studying the internal workings of the empire-wide telecommunication system, Roland had finally merged it with Sanctuary 3''s VIRCOFF network system in tandem, further increasing its functionality and stability. All of these were done while he was working on the upgrading of the Recombinant suits for the exploration group and all space related combatants.


    Since the day they had exited their seclusion, they didn''t even have the chance to take a breather. There were simply too many matters to attend to. Roland and Anna even rarely meet each other nowadays.


    The Immortal King scrolled through the information seriously; not missing a single detail. 98 % of the highway linking all the bunker hubs to the teleportation artifact has been done. Just a little more on the finishing touches were left. The idea had come from Taquila''s devouring worms, although no real worms were involved; unfortunately, all of them had gone extinct after three thousand years. The boring of the earth to create tunnels and reinforcements were done purely with machineries and some help from the assistant witches of Witch Union.


    Roland chose not to divulge any information about Linneia''s exploration team to the public to prevent panic from spreading. Only a small amount of key individual knew the truth. They worked together to prepare for the return of the princess. She will ultimately become the savior of the people with the new coordinates of a habitable planet.


    What irked Roland the most was his inability to notify Wentilakh about the problems from the other side of the Interstellar Gate Ancient Artifact. Without his realization, one day, the whole tribe was gone just like that. Nobody knew where they went. Some said they had left the planet with a spaceship, but no credible information was obtained. He hoped that they would be able to go through with the ordeal when the time comes.


    ...


    A large group of spaceships appeared at the edge of the galaxy harboring the dying sun. Nobody would''ve realized that these spaceships of various sizes had just performed multiple high-powered long space-jumps. However, the conditions of each spaceships were still excellent, as they had been equipped with the latest technology, from the latest power shields to the body structures, built from Sector R''s most sought after milliasteel.


    Ten thousand kilometers from them, a small recon lightcraft obscured behind a large floating rock started sending encrypted intel, "Unknown spaceships numbering at five thousand appear at point 31.5-14. Most probably the vanguards of hostile encounters, fully equipped with artillery. Estrella Conglomerate Logo detected. Alerting the Dragon Lance Squad to enter alert mode."


    ¡­


    Linneia placed the last metallic stone properly after double-checking the diagram she perceived from her master, Grandmaster Olfalfas. It was the mechanics of a large teleportation portal, simplified and explained by her great grandfather, step by step. The information was abstruse and involved a lot of foreign concepts she had never came across in her studies in Neverwinter. Nonetheless, becoming an important disciple to the Kohiten''s legacy as well as Roland''s vast amount of experiences had helped her tremendously. She found that she could naturally comprehend the abstruse foreign concept once she merged herself completely with the heavenly cloud inkbrush. She was glad she studied hard before.


    For months, Linneia had been performing extremely long random teleportations in the bid to find a new land for her people to relocate. Her quest to find the most suitable planet or stars had been fraught with dangers beyond her wildest dreams. Oftentimes, after every jump, her psyche and her body were extremely exhausted, she had to recuperate for a few days before she could perform the next jump. During the rest period, she had been nearly eaten by random gigantic animals, almost killed by poisonous gas, hunted by large groups of indigenous locals and almost died multiple times from being crushed by harsh environments. Linneia had persisted courageously and pulled through every single time with the help of her suit and her magical inkbrush.


    Every single time, she would trace back her location to her great grandfather and reported the coordinates without fail. They had discussed and had settled for a planet after her 38th teleportation attempts; a planet named as Verdant by Linneia herself. The planet was full of life with one sun and three moons, thick vegetation and ancient arboreal forests. She had not come across any civilization at the moment. However, the planet was extremely large and was separated by very large turbulent oceans which might impede water-based transportation in the future. Additionally, the majority of the wildlife in the vicinity were huge and carnivorous in nature!


    It was simply too hard to find a suitable planet. 95 % of the planets she visited was unfavorable to human life.


    Once the selection was fixed, she immediately started to survey for a suitable location for the teleportation gate. She went far and wide to find the necessary materials and was supported by both Professor Rogers and the ailing Professor Newton with the help of her great grandfather linking them together. Luckily, she still keep some materials that the exploration team brought as well as some additional ones given by Grandmaster Olfalfas.


    Linneia worked tirelessly on the lake portal while clearing out the surrounding wildlife threats intermittently.The choice of using a lake stemmed from the Demon''s Salvation Lake portal proposed by Professor Newton. Since the old professor was very close with Senior Elder Wentilakh, naturally, the old demon had discussed and shared information with him. The lake portal needed minor modifications while being more user-friendly and could accommodate large capacity teleportation as compared to the Ancient Artifact found in the Extreme North. Linneia had been informed that the artifact on her home planet''s side had been similarly upgraded too after they have cleared the nests of the beasts in the valley.


    Linneia reported to her great grandfather, [Great Grandpa Roland, I''m done on my side.]


    Nervously, she waited for the new portal to activate.


    A faint silver ripple appeared in the middle of the huge lake. The viscous-like ripple grew wider and wider. Finally, it encompassed the whole lake''s surface!


    Linneia shed tears of joy and jumped in.


    As she appeared on the other side, she was enveloped by a warm embrace of her tear-stricken mother, the Queen of Graycastle. Right now, the strongest Extraordinary who''s cold, duty-bound and calculative had turned into a simple mother who missed her daughter dearly, especially after her husband''s death.


    A hand grabbed her shoulder firmly from the side. "Welcome home, Linneia. Leave the rest to us and get some rest first. Thank you for your hard work." The Immortal King smiled with appreciation to his descendant.


    Finally, this descendant of his had truly grown up and bloomed.


    ¡­

 37 Final chapter: Glory of the Witches

    Captain Dorian gnashed his teeth while feeling resentful with the current outcome. He had just come out from a major clash with the aborigines hiding behind the two orbiting satellites of a purplish blue colored planet. His initial vanguard team of three thousand spaceships had been reduced to around four hundred. Furthermore, this was the seventh time they had been ambushed by the aboriginals!


    At the beginning, he felt that they were just insignificant bugs with their outdated vessels and ammunition; not worth a second glance. Crippling the center of control of these low-intelligence aborigines'' home base should have been a walk in the park. Young Master Wales wouldn''t even need to appear.


    However, they were more persistent than fruit flies! They kept on coming and clashed with their formations again and again without a moment of reprieve. After all the skirmishes, the numbers of the aborigines'' space ships had dwindled ten times more than them, but they themselves have suffered greatly as well! He had no choice but to report it to his superior about their losses. These insignificant skirmishes will mar his reputation greatly.


    Unwillingly, he pressed a levitating monitor to report. "Vanguard Alpha 20 reporting. Requesting for assistance from the other squadrons. Our squadron had been reduced to--"


    A sudden explosion occurred at the rear end of their formation. One of the ship''s personnel who was receiving the progress report from the affected area paled. He instantly ran towards a life pod while he shouted, "Captain, please evac now! Something has attacked the ship behind us, and the explosion has made the ship''s main core became unstable!"


    Captain Dorian immediately pressed the evacuation button. However, his ship, which was in the middle of the formation, together with a few other ships was cleanly cut into two halves simultaneously. The resulting vacuum pulled him and the rest of the crew out to space as they struggled to switch on the emergency life support function on their gray bodysuits. Multiple explosions spread through their formation like a virulent virus, engulfing the remaining ones, destroying them together.


    Captain Dorian''s fleet had been ambushed from the rear of the formation. Something had jammed their radar and shield silently without any anomaly detecting it. Although their gray suit could preserve their lives with the basic life support function, the chain explosions had wiped all possibility of survival for them. He had died a gruesome death along with his crew members and subordinates from the other spaceships. After Dorian''s death, his body had been engulfed with a mysterious blue energy, protecting it from any damage. Suddenly a gigantic black halberd carved with numerous runes appeared and decapitated the head of the captain swiftly.


    Aruthos flew back into the cockpit of his own spacecraft with an imposing gait. Unlike the others, his cultivation was high enough to warrant him the ability to fly on his own. However, he still needed the black recombinant suit for life support and camouflage. Behind him, a group of Onis similarly wearing black recombinant suits entered their own light spacecrafts. Their eyes trailed over their Commander in fervor and reverence. These small group of warrior Onis were the crux of the guerrilla squad, The Dragon Lance Squad. They were specially formed to counter the initial skirmishes with the foreign enemy while collecting much needed intel. The others were just a decoy to confuse the enemies.


    "How did I perform, Love?" The strict and rigid General Oni was now talking sweetly via the VIRCOFF network to Helen. All his imposingness melted away into a deep enthralling seductive voice.


    "Not bad. Keep it up, Husband." The mellow sounds of a woman transmitted in with a tinge of exasperation.


    The Oni still had the gall to flirt in the middle of an important operation! Helen was the main strategist behind the Dragon Lance Squad while Aruthos had taken the Commander position. The husband and wife combo was the strongest, most well-coordinated group among the elites of the space military division. Together, they oversaw the front-lines and held thirty percent of the total numbers of soldiers.


    Aruthos turned serious, "I finally manage to catch their leader. It is bad news. We have only destroyed their scout. Their main forces, totaling at one hundred thousand has not arrived yet. They even have an equipment to destroy planet-level targets..."


    He explained in great detail about the intel he obtained from absorbing the dispersing fragmented memory of the enemy. However, since the corpse''s position wasn''t high level enough, the detailed information eluded him. He knew they needed to catch a higher leveled enemy. However, time was of the essence at the moment.


    Helen remained silent. She turned to her side, where her superior was standing erect while listening in on the intel given by her husband.


    "Good job, Aruthos. Helen, inform all strategists to connect to VIRCOFF in virtual chamber 5 for strategy meeting in five minutes. We have a lot to do. " The Grand Marshall commanded solemnly.


    ...


    Calendar Year 4505.


    On the 3155th year of the Wimbledon Royal family reign over the Graycastle Empire, an intergalactic war between the Graycastle Alliance Force with the enemy from space begun two weeks after the start of the mass migration to Planet Verdant.


    The initial clash between General Aruthos Krizathess of the Dragon Fang Division with the enemy resulted in the annihilation of 3000 enemy space vessels. The confrontations took place at the fringe of planet Starfall, a high-density gaseous planet at the periphery of the galaxy. However, the initial victory was short-lived as the remainder of the incoming enemy''s main battalions numbering at 97,000 vessels kept pushing forward with ferocity and overwhelming numbers which forced Graycastle Alliance to retreat.


    The second major clash which occurred on an asteroid field, only 80,000 kilometers from Starfall was so dreadful, over one million military men and women, were sacrificed to annihilate a third of enemy forces, roughly 38,000 of the enemy''s space vessels. Dead soldiers in shattered recombinant suits with thousands of crushed Graycastle Alliance''s spacecrafts wreckage littered the asteroid field, making a heartbreaking scene in the hearts of the people. The fights and innumerable number of deaths were closely documented by a number of dedicated war-journalists following each group of soldiers engaging in battle. Hence, the citizens of the world who had tuned in their Cerebral Connectors were given live-footage of the battlefield in real-time while shedding tears of sorrow and helplessness during each confrontation.


    Due to the steep reduction of personnel, Grand Marshall Alethea Silverstrom had issued a command for all soldiers to fall back to 120 of their outposts, which were positioned along the path towards their home planet.


    For a short moment, the remainder of Estrella Corporation''s personal army numbered at 59,000 was given a moment of reprieve. To steer clear from further resistance, they even tried to perform a short space-jump to the vicinity of the targeted planet. However, the crown princess of Graycastle had stepped forward and performed a never-to-be seen extraordinary ability by forcefully shattering the dimensional tunnel. She had prematurely made half of the enemy exited at a location where they were besieged from thirty-five of the space-military outposts which were strategically positioned in a formation. Another half''s space-jump were canceled out as they reappeared at the same position again. From then on, the leftover Estrella group of 30,000 vessels had moved forward without performing any jumps, as they engaged with each outpost swiftly.


    The third clash at the formation outposts was similarly violent. Many notable Generals perished during this period, dragging along the enemy with them while effectively cleaning out 17,000 enemy vessels. The Oni Generals, Aruthos Krizathess and Pulosta Bessailes, two Witch Generals from Sanctuary 3, Helen Krizathess and Samantha Antoire, and three Ogre Generals, Orlo Vestanya, Stolisk Stalada and Voslovos Statens were amongst the notable generals who went Missing in Action (MIA) during missions, suspected to have died valiantly for the greater good. However, they had effectively delayed the movements of the enemy while buying more time for the citizens for migration by two months.


    The high number of casualties was a result from the large differences in technology level. However, the over-three-milion courageous space-military fighters kept on standing their ground and fought until the last man standing at each outpost, providing the much needed time for the civilians to evacuate from the planet.


    After the 7th major battle, finally, less than 8,000 enemy vessels appeared in Neverwinter airspace. The last fight from the final resistance of the planet were cut short by the bombardment of an advanced weapon harnessing the power of the dying Sun. The three-month long intergalactic war was finally ended after the unstable planet''s core was shattered, effectively destroying the remnants of the final resistance.


    ...


    The mass migration of the ordinary civilians started immediately after the experts tested the connection''s stability between the two planets. In the large group, not only humans and witches were present, the other races were present too.


    Everybody was looking around, accessing their future homes. They knew their home planet was no more once the Cerebral Connector stopped functioning. No news of the war could cross over through the portal.


    This will be the place for them and their descendants to take root in the future.


    Some were filled with sadness. Some, with mixed emotions. It was understandable, since they understood their ancestral home where the bodies of their ancestors laid will be gone forever. Nonetheless, some of the civilians, especially the younger generations, were filled with anticipation for the unknown. Their bright eyes had cast the shadow of sorrow away from the eyes of their elders. They knew that their time to shine has come.


    ...


    The multitude of races had made the new community into a unique one. Migrating to an unknown location had made them viewed each other as fellow kin from the same homeland. They had put aside their differences and worked together with unity. Every one of them had a family member in the space-military division. They were reminded day and night that their family courageously faced the enemies from space to give them this precious opportunity to start anew.


    Year after year, communities of varying races migrated out of the new Neverwinter Empire after they were sufficiently ready. They became the pioneer of their own race, establishing a new Empire of their own. While carving a new land to be called their own, they hadn''t forgotten Neverwinter''s efforts in the previous intergalactic war as they maintained friendly ties with the Witch nation for hundreds of years to come. There were also some who didn''t wish to leave, as they became the permanent residents of the new empire.


    A year after the establishment of new Neverwinter Empire with the ascension of a new King and Queen of Neverwinter, the famed Immortal King, Roland Wimbledon, with his wife, Anna Wimbledon officially entered into seclusion. Although the legendary wizard and witch''s traces had disappeared, the couple were still revered as the Spiritual Leaders of the new empire for all time.


    ...


    "Mr. Wales Estrella, following the Empire''s commandments regarding the universal law of Preservation of intelligent life forms, you have been charged with genocide of Planet Azul of the uncharted Sector X-319. In addition to that, you have also single-handedly ushered the extinction of the entire solar system by harvesting the Sun as the core of these live-bound planets surrounding it. You have also been charged for lobbying the Council members of the Empire and several officials involved in Energy Harvesting Regulations in order to bypass most of the requirement.


    Do you plead guilty?" Prosecutor Aidern Velasquez resounded in front of a court session witnessed by all the media of the Empire. Seated behind him was two representatives from Planet Azul, a woman and an old man, with a solemn expression. Both of them were trembling slightly, although it was unclear whether it was due to extreme sadness or rage. If a stare could kill, the person they were staring at right now would''ve combust into fire. The old man had just recovered from a bout of heart attack after the news of their perished beloved homeland reached their ears.


    The scandal of the Estrella Corporation was so sensational, it had been covered and broadcasted to all the planets in various sectors. The worst thing was, the Estrella Corporation had denied their involvement in the incident, pushing all the blame to the now estranged young representative Wales. Afterwards, they then tried to wash their hands by sending a large sum of compensation to the two representatives. Nonetheless, they had still been indicted by the Empire, while their political power and trading rights were reduced to nearly 50%.


    Two days later, the world had been shocked again by the news of the assassination of Wales Estrella. The genocide criminal has been assassinated en route to the high security prison in sector D. The assassination marked the start of a series of high-profile assassinations involving a long list of political figures, businessmen, officials and important public figures. 80% had a direct or indirect relation to the Estrella Corporation, driving the Empire-backed trading giant to bankruptcy.


    ¡­


    "Your Highness, I''ve never imagined you could be this heavy handed." A small satisfied smile crept over Alethea''s expression. "The operations were even funded by themselves. How ironic. The agents sent over by Your Highness are the best of the best in this field. I have never thought that you''ve think this far ahead when you send them over with Zenti''s teammates."


    Inside a small obscure apartment, in a high-density Space City at the edge of Sector B, Roland and Anna were playing host to the visiting ex-Grand Marshall and the Captain of Ballista Mercenary. They were sitting and drinking sweetened tea while partaking scones. However, the topic they were idly chatting over would''ve shocked anyone from the empire if they were heard.


    "My love for my homeland is as much as you. Obviously, they need to pay the price for what they have done to us. Anyway, I wouldn''t even know you survived the final bombardment if you''re not here. I''m so glad, Alethea, Zenti." Roland smiled at his long-time friend cum subordinate and nodded at the suave mercenary captain. [They looked good together. Who will ever guess after thousands of years later, Alethea would finally found someone to confide in?] Roland was genuinely happy for her.


    Alethea and a few other high ranking generals and witches were able to camouflage themselves and blend in with the remnants of the enemy fighters as they returned to the Empire with the help of Zenti''s group.


    "Is it okay for you to leave Verdant, Your Highness?"


    Anna added, "Let the young ones grow with this adversity. Linneia and her husband have been very reliable. Anyway, if they can''t manage anymore, we''re just a teleportation away. Let''s our old bones rest a little."


    A sprightly lovable voice came from the kitchen of the apartment, "Who want some cookies?! The experiment was a success!" Celine skipped in happily with a tray of cookies, fresh from the oven. Pasha was a step behind her with a warm smile.


    ¡­


    "On the thirty-fifth year of the New Verdant Calendar, a faint signal of a long-lost communication channel has been detected by Shayla and Lintmann, two prominent frontier teleporters, while exploring the galaxy near an available portal, at the west-side of Sector 67-11. The two-man team had reported to the headquarters and asked for additional professional assistance. An additional twenty professional intergalactic inspectors were sent over as additional manpower to find the exact location of the signal.


    After nearly two months of searching in all direction, the inspectors had finally pin-pointed the exact location. The signal had come from one of the three older versions of Graycastle''s space vessels orbiting an unknown planet. We had finally re-established connection with the brothers from our previous homeland, the Demonic race.


    The current de-facto Leader of the community, Tralish Zod, had taken over the leadership mantle after most of the Elders from their race perished in a previous confrontation with the local inhabitants of the planet. The confrontations came from the united opposition of the local inhabitants preventing the Demonic tribes from settling at a corner of their land. He had switch on the beacon handed down by what was left of the Council of Elders, following their instructions. The signal was sent out for nearly ten years before a response was received.


    Representatives had been dispatched to the Demonic tribes to discuss relocation to Verdant but was flatly rejected by the leader after lengthy discussions with their surviving clansmen. However, he had asked for assistance from Neverwinter to negotiate for land with the local inhabitants of planet Clairsteel.


    The current Queen of Neverwinter, Queen Linneia Wimbledon, had gone to the planet herself to negotiate terms with the local community, the second establishment of Kohiten''s giants. They had come to an agreement and was provided with a continent of their own after she connected the giant community with their long lost brethren on Planet Garnet. The continent has established a permanent trade route with Verdant after the construction of the fourth teleportation portal by a group of professional builders assisted by assistant witches from the Witch Union.


    A Verdant ambassador has been appointed to be placed on the continent''s side for a five-year term; Princess Aila Wimbledon, to further assist the tribe and establish stronger ties. - Wimbledon, A., March 11th, Verdant year 35"


    Aila terminated her connection with the main server of Neverwinter''s grand archive after finishing her final entry. The archive was named as ''Glory of the Witches'', a tribute from the whole of Verdant occupants to the Witch nation who had sacrificed and contributed the most during the previous Intergalactic War.


    She walked in between the large electronic shelving full of blinking lights one last time before she would embark on a journey to the Demonic Continent on Planet Clairsteel. Over there, the Cerebral Connector could not be linked to the main server as the distance of the two planets were too far away. Maybe, the system will be upgraded and fully established nearing the end of her term as ambassador. However, she wasn''t positive about it.


    As one of the frontier teleporters working under the government, she had seen many new wondrous sights fraught with danger and excitement. Nonetheless, they had adopted a non-intervention attitude towards the local inhabitants of the visited planets. Hence, this will be the first time she will actively interact with intelligent occupants of other planets. She was filled with anticipation for the future.


    She nodded towards a pair of guards standing outside the main server hall and directly walked towards her Queen-mother''s study to bid goodbye. A group of helpers followed her as she adjusted the coordinates on a sophisticated bangle on her wrists. A small portal opened to transport her and her helpers away, watched by her Queen-mother at the side. Aila promised to assume her role as an excellent ambassador, bringing honor to Neverwinter.