Chapter 71 - 071:

Chapter 71: Chapter 071:

As evening approached, the golden setting sun cast long shadows across the grounds. Students wandered between dormitories, dining halls, and training fields, although some still hung around the training fields, sparring or testing out spells.

"Flame Spirit Guardian!" Alexis finished chanting. A fiery flame falcon materialized from her spell circle, flying directly at Isabella and Miriselle.

In cooperation, the duo tried an interweaving spell.

"Dome of Earth!"

"Icebound Fortress!"

A dome of earth covered the duo, while shards of ice came together to form a coat over the dome!

So, when the firebird reached them and flew into the ice, the ice doused most of its flames, with the dome of earth finally snuffing it out completely, albeit losing some chunks.

"I’m almost all out of mana! I give up."

Alexis called out, flopping to the ground.

"And since when could you two interweave spells!?"

"We’ve been practicing for—"

"Roar, King of Fire, and consume my foes. Flames Sphinx!"

The flames gathered and surged forward, condensing into the shape of a massive lion. The heat was intense and searing, and its roar was deafening.

However, the girls had noticed and had cast a defensive interwoven spell, with Alexis leaping away from the group and charging on the offensive.

In the end, when the lion was finally done away with, they searched for its caster.

Or rather, he came to them.

The golden hair was familiar, and so was the slow stride.

Leon Dawnshire!

"Ladies," he greeted.

* * * * *

- Vampiric Icelands

- The Citadel

Over at the Citadel, the One Above All sat atop the throne of bones with a rather bored look.

Below the throne, Veytharo the Monarch stood in attendance to the Progenitor, alongside Duke Aldridge and a few other high-ranking vampires.

It had taken quite some time, but the Progenitor had fully taken over Nyx’s body, and the poor girl should have been completely erased.

The One Above All had completely regained her powers. So, no matter how much the dukes wanted to oppose her, they simply could not!

When the throne room had finally settled, the Progenitor rose from her throne. In the dimly lit room, her red dress stood out, glowing over pale skin and a fine body structure, accentuating the beauty of one already beautiful.

"It has been centuries since I last fell asleep, watching—watching you all gathered here—govern my race into irrelevance, and call that wisdom."

Her gaze moved slowly across every face in the room before resting on the Monarch.

"Pathetic."

That word hit the pride of the nobles there so hard they felt their hearts would burst with anger and rage.

However, none dared to speak. She was truly the Progenitor, the One Above All. It would be foolish to die opposing her! And so, they bore it.

"I let your family keep this throne in my stead, and look what you did with it. Confined us to a domain of ice and snow. Truly disgraceful."

The Monarch opened his mouth to speak, but sheer pressure and a flaring of aura shut him down cold and sent him to his knees.

"You, pathetic as you are, I have granted the privilege of listening to me. You shall not utter a single word. Am I understood? Now, onto the main reason why you are here."

She took one step down the dais.

By now, the fullness of her aura suffocated the entirety of the room. The vampires of the oldest bloodlines were wobbling in their shoes, trying to remain unmoved in the face of ultimate power. There were a few who couldn’t bear it and fell. Others coughed out blood. Even the Monarch fought with all he could so he could keep standing on his knees.

The only ones spared were Duke Aldridge and his two subordinates. A grace bestowed upon him, and they knew it.

"During the years my body slept, my mind traversed this world, far and wide. And during my mental discovery, I discovered something. I will not speak of its true nature here." She paused, allowing her words to sink in.

"Not to a room that has not earned the right to carry its weight. But it is a discovery tied to the history of those barbaric Khyronians. A piece of their beginning and their pride. What they had lost, and what I’m sure their rogue prophets and foolish lores made them ache to find."

She laid her gaze on Aldridge. The old man understood.

"A war," he answered a question not asked, "for their pride as a race and as a nation."

"You have always been the smartest one, child," the Progenitor praised.

"But why would we sponsor them in a war to their benefit, mighty One Above All?"

A count asked, with the aim of discrediting her words. It did not end well.

The next instant, his brain matter was splattered on the wall behind him, and blood gushed violently upwards from his neck.

"In this room, you speak only when you are allowed to. Now, I believe this was a wound in the belief they had been fed by the other races and one they had built themselves on, why they always waged half-hearted wars and always fell. All they need is a little bit of direction and some persuasion."

"And you intend to give it to them," Aldridge said. He had served her long enough to know most of the Progenitor’s thought process, her incredible foresight.

Pushing the demon race to war clearly had some benefits to the vampires. Otherwise she wouldn’t have thought of it before

"I intend to give them a trail."

By now, she had come to the end of the stairs, and there she stood. Some of the weaker vampires had already died from the sheer suffocating pressure emanating from her, so there were bodies with faces sketched with helplessness, rage, and fear.

"Beautiful," the One Above All thought to herself. "Truly beautiful expressions."

She continued, "A discovery. Lead them to discover—to find something, at the precise moment I choose for it to be found. True evidence of the world’s lies! Their pride, and its source, stolen by hands that called themselves just!"

"Whose hands?" the Monarch asked in spite.

"If it is not ours, how does it matter?"

No one dared answer that, at least not those alive! Not when you could easily forfeit your life!

Truly, the One Above All had returned.

"Aldridge, prepare for our departure. Let’s kindle the flame that will burn down this world."

"Yes, Progenitor."