Chapter 1087 (2/2)

Generally, energy and potential flowed upward from those who offered Iellaya fealty to her. With that, she would grow in power and capability. Slowly, her increased power would circulate through the bonds she possessed and have the effect of gradually strengthening her followers. But it was also possible for Lady Iellaya to bless her followers much more directly by flooding the connections with her own power.

Of course, this was not without cost.

But Iellaya knew that if she was going to demonstrate her power, she needed to be ready for what was to come. If the Nether was really as hurting and desperate as it seemed, there would be a large operation coming up soon. Either an offensive by Lord Miln to seize back recently lost territory or a defensive effort against a tide of Nether Beasts in such numbers that the front lines hadn’t in a generation.

No matter what it was, Iellaya needed to distinguish herself at that time. And once that confrontation started, she wouldn’t have attention to spare for her forces. If she didn’t do it now, it wouldn’t happen.

Perhaps it was best to think of Iellaya as a reservoir behind a dam. As more individual ponds and streams were willing to feed into her, they would connect to the river system that flowed out of her. Although their water volume might decrease in the short term, the amount that she casually dealt with was so large that even the tiniest bit of favor from her would be the equivalent of what most of these individuals could hope to get after a year of hard work.

And, like today, when she completely opened the floodgates, they would experience ecstasy that a normal mind couldn’t even fathom. Her mental fingers against that knot of karma tightened. Then she twisted, and that carefully held reservoir of power blasted outward.

Lady Iellaya trembled as she released the pent up energy through the connections. It wasn’t something she did often, so the sensation always left her uncomfortable. It stunk to her of weakness, but it was a necessary evil.

As she did so, a collective gasp went through the camp as everyone experienced the intoxicating rush of power that Iellaya had released. She could feel their happiness, their joy, feel the grainy sensation of despair being slowly swallowed the murky prospect of hope in their hearts.

Then, after a few seconds of releasing that power, Lady Iellaya’s hand on that knot of karma tightened once more. She became whole again, although quite empty of her usual vigor. Hopefully, it would prove worth the gamble.

With her power still percolating down through those who were connected to her, they would experience increased recovery and capability for some time. The energy would slowly dissipate on its own, but most would likely find a use for it in the next week as they were continually sent on missions, despite the fact they suffered an attack.

Now all that she wanted was some time to recover.

On cue, Abiodun rapped on the partially rigid flap that covered her tent. Groaning, Lady Iellaya straightened and did her best to smooth her bristling feathers. Abiodun was obviously aware of what she had just done, so the fact that he had knocked anyway meant that whatever it was, it was very important.

And since he knocked, someone else is with him.

“Enter,” Lady Iellaya said a few seconds later after she was satisfied with her attempts to hide how exhausting that loss of energy was to her. She slipped the hand mirror she had used between her back and the chair on which she sat.

Three people walked into the room. The first was Abiodun, looking imposing and dangerous, fortified as he was by Iellaya’s energy. Although he wasn’t physically larger, his image had such weight now that the visual deviation in the surrounding area was partially suppressed. As the first and most important source of her strength, Abiodun received the larger share of her expended potency than most.

Next to him was a tired-looking young woman wearing large iron gauntlets and possessing tightly braided turquoise hair. This woman Iellaya gave a second glance, after feeling the ambient potency of her image. This was just the type of individual that Lady Iellaya would dearly love to have swear fealty to her, but based on the power present in her image, there was little chance of it happening.

Ah well, Lady Iellaya thought sadly. Then she turned to the third person in the room. And she immediately froze.

It was a rather short and slight man who was completely hairless. His pale grey skin made him share more than a passing resemblance with a day-old corpse, and the lack of hair didn’t help his ghastly complexion at all. But around his body there wasn’t a hint of visual variation due to the Great Rift. His image was so solid that the surrounding air stilled by his presence.

Abiodun clasped his hands behind his back and stood at attention. Lady Iellaya blinked. The two strangers seemed to both be waiting for the other to speak.

The turquoise haired woman sent a questioning glance at the hairless man, who just smiled. Shaking her head in something close to disgust, the woman turned to Lady Iellaya. “Greetings Commander, my name is Vualla Meteo… we are here looking for one of your subordinates. Randidly Ghosthound is his name. We had hoped,” Another pointed glance at the smiling, grey-skinned creature with an aggressively powerful image next to her, “to speak with him. As quickly as possible. This man believes it is impossible for an image to possess stars.”

“Keh, you leave out the most important part,” When the hairless individual spoke, his voice was quite off-putting in shrill pitch and cadence. “Only by finding another such variant element can you prove that it is reasonable for such a quality recruit such as you to have slipped through the cracks. Otherwise… hehehe… I suppose it will be up to me to persuade you to reveal how you managed to infiltrate the Imperial Aether Army.”

“Yes, that dumb theory,” The turquoise haired woman replied with a stone face. She kept her gaze on Lady Iellaya.

Lady Iellaya, for her part, suppressed a shiver and licked her lips. On the one hand, some part of her was annoyed they both seemed rather dismissive of her rank. Yet on the other hand… the man’s presence made Iellaya nervous enough not to press the issue. “...Unfortunately, Randidly Ghosthound is currently out participating in a mission… but I’m sorry, I don’t recognize either of you. And without knowing more, I cannot-”

“Ah! Where are my manners,” The hairless man whistled. He opened his mouth in something like a smile and revealed rows of rotten teeth. “I am Cail Tweocs. I am a special investigator of the Xyrt Brigade, part of the Internal Affairs division. A pleasure, I’m sure.”