Chapter 1547 (2/2)
Gradually, the darkness receded. The raven feathers shriveled and vanished, eventually taking with them those inky stains. Dmitri Qiolo looked at Lady Iellaya with quite a bit of fear in his face. Lady Iellaya didn’t even bother to suppress her smirk. “So, are you convinced?”
“Yes. You are truly powerful.” The former Disciplinary Magistrate could only shake his head at her oppressive image superiority. Yet despite the fact that his former image had been broken, he still had demonstrated a very solid foundation. One that convinced Lady Iellaya she wasn’t mistaken for offering him a job.
His features furrowed as he carefully considered his next words. “I am convinced: you are a worthy superior to follow. But can you truly arrange for some additional Aether to be given to my home planet…?”
“It is within our abilities,” Lady Iellaya nodded as she walked across the training area to be near the man in front of her. She obviously wasn’t going to be too specific about this ability, lest she reveal the astound capabilities of Randidly Ghosthound. It was enough for Qiolo to assume they would simply misuse some other Aether allotment to improve his home planet’s situation.
Yet as they stood an arm’s length away from each other, she couldn’t help but hesitate.
Even now, after seeing his image, Lady Iellaya had a few reservations about the man in front of her. She didn’t want him to sacrifice his potential to her because that would be detected down the line; she needed him independent. But because of the fact that he would be an independent existence, she had forced him through these series of spars. Each had left her unsatisfied; they gave her no more insight into his personality than she already possessed.
Of course, it was also a good exercise for her image and body. And in the meantime, Octavius Shrike had begun pulling some strings within the NLC to find out information on Dmitri Qiolo. But Lady Iellaya knew that such information would likely not sway her opinion-
Lady Iellaya received a message. When she saw it was from Military High Command, her expression turned serious. She was required to report immediately to the observation room: Something had happened in the Fifth Cohort.
“Get yourself a clean pair of pants,” Lady Iellaya said tersely. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Qiolo. There were large holes in his attire after being ravaged by her image. “This… can finally be considered a pass. I’ll arrange for your planet to receive additional Aether; you should be able to verify the change by the end of the week. From now on, you are my second. For now, just observe and followed me. Can you handle that?”
Dmitri Qiolo looked at Lady Iellaya for four longs seconds. Then he nodded. “You won’t regret this.”
Lady Iellaya snorted. A lot of people had told her what she would and would not regret in her life. Generally, they ended up being wrong. But it is true that most of that impression was formed through the early parts of my life. So many people told me that I would regret the day that I had chosen them as a foe… heh.
If I had a penny for every grave I dug for pompous fools...
With a wicked smile on her face, Lady Iellaya quickly prepared herself to head to Military High Command. Three minutes later, both she and Qiolo were wearing freshly pressed uniforms as they moved through the Nexus Ways toward their destination.
As could be expected by the seriousness of the message, the guard post was a mess as large numbers of people rushed in and out of Military Headquarters. Aides were dashing back and forth through the hallways as Lady Iellaya and Qiolo walked quickly along the gauntlet of portraits. Qiolo looked around with a heavy gaze but stayed closed to Lady Iellaya as they cut directly through the press of bodies. When aides drifted too close in their haste, Lady Iellaya felt no qualms about releasing a sharp pulse of her image to send them stumbling out of the way.
The duo took a sharp right near the middle of the building and headed down the stairs to the lower bunker. The observation deck was kept below grounds, where it could tap more directly into the Nexus Ways for its information. When they pushed open the double doors to their destination, they found a tight bunch of high ranking military officers waiting for them, looking with concern at a fluctuating pattern displayed within an Aether array.
The room was relatively small, despite the fact that twenty soldiers were stationed here full time, monitoring the heavy Aether scaffolding that supported the Nexus. The walls were lined with tightly packed desks, while there was a central display between them to bring up the important information.
The one Commandant in the room, the featureless humanoid Commandant Larian, glanced at Lady Iellaya as she arrived and then turned back to the chattering group that surrounded the central display area. He unleashed a deep vibration, instantly silencing the others. “Alright, we are all here. I think it’s time to talk about what this means.”
All eyes in the room turned to a single individual.
The soldier manipulating the Aether array instantly went pale and took a deep gulp. Lady Iellaya frowned at him for a second before being able to place the low ranking soldier. As the grunt who had noticed the anomaly in the Nexus Ways and reported it, he was given the opportunity to speak in front of the senior officers. It was clear that the tension rolling off this powerful individual was doing him no favors. She almost pitied him. “Ah… I was at m-my normal post when I saw…”
He gestured helplessly at the Aether display, unable to find enough Willpower to keep talking. While the senior officer responsible for the observation deck quietly led the trembling cadet away, the Commandant vibrated again. “As most of you are aware, the Nether forces have been seeking to establish these… Nether Nodes within their territory. The Xyrt Brigade has been hard at work raiding and destroying these, but we haven’t been able to determine their function, and therefore have let some of our zeal lapse in recent weeks.
“Plus, the Xyrt Brigade specialists needed a break. Unfortunately, that gave the Nether the opening to do… this.” The Commandant gestured to the display. Lady Iellaya frowned as she tried to take in the confusing details of what she was seeing. The display covered the whole of the Fifth Cohort, which was a complex network of worlds and the Nexus Ways. Of course, the Nexus used the System to relocate most of these worlds to reproduced environments around itself, meaning that they were much more closely packed than they had been previously.
But there were still almost a hundred thousand worlds in the Fifth Cohort. With some failing to even make it to the Calamities and therefore being moved further, the final map was relatively spotty. But amongst these lines of white and green lines to delineate the Nexus Ways, the tiny black orbs were rather eye-catching. In addition, it now appeared that the black orbs were arranged in a particular pattern.
“...are they attempting to break space again? As they did with the Great Rift?” The Highest Commander of the Nexus garrison asked. Lady Iellaya could already hear the rising panic in his voice. Likely the man had the position for hundreds of years and the thought of actual battle left him fearful.
Commandant Larian shook his featureless head. “No. After struggling with the corrosion of the Great Rift for so long, we’ve now taken many steps to prevent such an event from occurring ever again. Space is reinforced across the Nexus. These Nether Nodes would not be able to accomplish that, even with a Nether King at the helm.”
“But!” Lady Iellaya turned around. A young woman with her white hair up in a ponytail walked into the room. She was very conspicuously not wearing a military uniform, although there was a metallic patch over her right eye. “This Nether guy is smart. He’s not trying to break the space, just bend it. Those nodes are already beginning to warp and twist the Fifth Cohort-”
“Who is this?” An officer cut in, glancing between the young woman and the Commandant.
It was difficult to read the ranking officer’s expression, but Lady Iellaya could instantly tell something was off. It took Commandant Larian several seconds to reply to the question. “...this is a specialist in Nether phenomenon that we called in to examine the working.”
Shit. Lady Iellaya blinked. It must seriously be bad if they let a civilian in to this meeting. And judging by her cocky expression…
“I work for the Engraving Guild. I’m Pyllipia Bounafferre.” The NLC dog flashed a rather charming smile before clearing her throat lightly. She walked forward to stand at the center of the room. “As I was saying… If this continues as I suspect, the space of the Fifth Cohort will begin twisting inward.”
“Why?” Lady Iellaya asked sharply.
Pyllipia beamed over at Lady Iellaya. “Well… because our strong defenses against space being broken means that there is a very powerful connection to the surrounding space. So after the Nether King begins folding the space he has taken from us…”
The Commandant turned to look at the projected map. “Hostilities have continued, but battle lines have gradually stabilized. The Nether hasn’t been able to expand since Commandant Wick began exerting his influence in the Fifth Cohort. But we haven’t committed too large a force to attacking the Nether either. We were waiting for the recruits to finish their training.
“But it looks like we won’t have that luxury much longer. Even if we don’t attack… the Nether King intends to drag the surrounding space into his domain.”