Chương 115: The Cocagne Affair (15)

A mountain floated above their heads. Simon had never seen anything like it. A shining ceiling of dirt and stones kept suspended in the air passed over them, surrounded by clouds produced by huge glowing manaliths. Smaller crystal meteors and spinning rings of air currents so strong that one could see them with the naked eye surrounded and carried it afloat. It would have been impossible to distinguish this all-impressive miracle from the sky had it not been so close to the ground…

yet everyone in Fabliau only had to take a look at the world above to accept a reality most would never have even considered. Islands could fly. This was an island of the Kish Sanctuary. Simon couldn't think of any other explanation for this phenomenon. Only one explanation came to mind for why it would show itself here in Cocagne, in a way that never happened in any previous reign; one which the sight of winged lizards flying down toward the forest swiftly confirmed. Vouivre had found the Kish Sanctuary.

Simon didn't know what exact sequence of events caused this disaster, though a myriad of possibilities came to mind. Perhaps naming her in the will directly rather than Casval caused her to spare him, which either changed things dramatically or caused her confrontation with Louis to go slightly differently.

He couldn't help but recall that the Cobweb had stolen books on the Kish Empire from Cocagne's library, and the fact that Casval had somehow gotten access to Shabram pointed to an equally frightening possibility too…

"What is that?!" Verdis asked in shock, his hands trembling as he seized his bow.

"A flying fortress?!"

"It is trouble!" Alphonse warned.

"Look!" His sword pointed at the flying creatures, which had grown close enough that Simon could see the sunlight reflecting on their scales. Dragons. These were hardly bigger than wyverns and only distinguishable from their lesser cousins by having forearms separated from their wings, with pinkish-red scales, small horns, and smoke oozing from their nostrils. Simon counted dozens of them flying over the forest, if not a hundred, moving in groups and breathing fire down on the trees below.

Their formation immediately reminded Simon of the War Party's airships bombarding the Berwick Islands. They intended to incinerate the entire forest and everyone within.

"There's too many of them!" Verdis shouted, his hands clenching his bow with all of his strength. He was frightened to his core.

"This is more dragons gathered in a single place than at any point in history!" Alphonse immediately took charge.

"Simon, Verdis, cover our retreat to the lodge with long-range attacks! I'll buff you!" Simon immediately followed the order, blasting the dragons with long-range Ectoplasmer spirits while Verdis mustered his courage and sniped the wyrms with arrows of light. Alphonse shone like a candle in the night, his warm light bathing his allies and empowering them. Alphonse of Lore's Aura of Bravery granted you immunity to Terror, Madness, and Charm! You gain resistance against hostile mental-affecting effects!

Alphonse of Lore's Holy Halo granted your weapons the Darkslayer quality! You will also take less damage from miasma or creatures of the Dark! Alphonse of Lore's Heroic Destiny gave you an experience bonus! Your current Class will gain +2% EXP for every level that the current Overlord has over you! This stacks with other experience increasing Perks! So it was true, Alphonse did gain more experience based on Simon's Overlord levels, and quite a lot at that. No wonder he progressed so fast!

"Is that Heroic Destiny power a Paladin Perk?" Simon asked Alphonse in between two spells.

"I've never heard of it!"

"It is not a Perk at all," Alphonse admitted, much to Simon's surprise.

"It is a spell cast by the Oracle. An extremely high-tier one that can only work on the Paladin. It ties my destiny to the Overlord, which ensures I can both match and cross paths with him." Simon bit his tongue as the irony of their situation was utterly lost on Alphonse.

"Did you meet the Oracle?"

"Now is not the time!" Alphonse countered, and he was right. A wall of smoke and fire had risen over the horizon. Simon grit his teeth and focused on his magic, even as his horse ran with all of its strength to the hunting lodge. His powerful Ectoplasmer spells shot a dragon dead, and then another, while Verdis managed to snipe another's wings in a way that caused the beast to lose control of its flight.

Arrows of light surged from another part of the forest with immense speed and precision alongside spells, both slaying one wyrm after another. That had to be Filip's doing.

"Something's wrong," Verdis said with a frown of confusion, "My arrows shouldn't be capable of piercing a dragon's scales yet, even a young one, yet they do!"

"Could my Halo be increasing your damage?" Alphonse wondered, though he sounded doubtful himself.

"But it should only work against creatures of the Dark, not dragons…" They were right, these dragons were strangely weak. Maybe Casval and Vouivre were terrors among their kind, but Simon would still have expected more of their kind than dying from a single hit. Dragons were one of the five types of creatures the Endymion army was taught to flee on sight, no matter their age or size. He couldn't imagine these monsters spreading such terror worldwide. The flow of experience his Ninja Class received was thin too.

While he received a few levels from it, he could tell it was mostly thanks to Alphonse's Heroic Destiny empowering him. Level 9 Ninja Perk: Kawarimi I (Active): Body Technique. You can instantly switch places with an inanimate object within five meters of yourself and within your line of sight, such as a log. The truth became clear to Simon when he noticed one of the beasts he had slain shrinking as it fell out of the sky, its batlike wings turning into feathered ones like Eole's, its scales receding into skin…

Kish.

"Those aren't dragons," Simon realized.

"They're shifters!"

"I see slave markings on them," Verdis muttered, his voice heavy with horror. His Hunter Class likely gave him enhanced sight or sharpened accuracy.

"They're slave soldiers." The terrible truth sank into Simon's chest. Vouivre had captured Eole, or at least found a new host for the Two-Tailed Fish, then used it to enslave and twist her people into shock troops. This was how she had raised an army of dragons in a previous timeline, and why she sought to capture that particular Zodiac Fiend so feverishly; to use its shapeshifting powers to create an army of monsters at her beck and call.

And if everything wasn't bad enough already, Simon sensed Belzemine attempting to open telepathic contact with him all the way from Frightwall. He had tasked her to stay at the castle to assist Euphemia with the elven investigation and other tasks—ensuring he had a mole in the Church Party the same way Shabram was meant to observe the War Party on his behalf.

"What is it, Agnes?" Belzemine's answer carried a heavy sense of concern.

"A flying mountain has appeared over Marthrone, alongside a handful of airships, Your Majesty." Simon gulped as he dared to ask a question he already knew the answer to.

"Is Louis' airship among them?"

"Yes." They allied. Vouivre and the War Party had formed an alliance to take out the Overlord who had tried to set them against each other. They were doomed.

"Stay at Euphemia's side and do everything she asks of you," Simon ordered Belzemine. There was still a slim chance they could hold on and turn back the tide. A great whistle echoed through the woods, and all of its trees shuddered. A cacophony of noise and shrieks followed, alongside a tide of fur and feathers. Manticores, griffins, and all sorts of birds arose from the woods and took to the sky to fight the dragons. They swarmed Vouivre's slaves, claws clashing against talons.

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"It's Dad!" Verdis rejoiced. Simon spotted movement to his left, followed by a flash of silver. Filip appeared atop his silver wolf mount, with Thalas in full Berserker garb riding at his back. His axe was red with Kish blood.

"Verdis, Lord Alphonse!" Filip called out to his son in relief.

"Thank the Light, you are alive!" Obviously, neither he nor Thalas showed the same relief for Simon—his half-brother even looked vaguely disappointed to see him alive—but it was the thought that counted.

"I assume this disaster is not part of this Grand Hunt?" Alphonse asked Filip.

"I'm afraid not," Filip replied with a scowl.

"My birds informed me that these creatures are laying siege to all of Fabliau from a fortress atop that floating rock. Princess Norbelle has already summoned her Eidolons to repel them."

"This is just as our father's will warned us," Simon replied.

"Gargauth left heirs." Alphonse's eyes widened in shock." Gargauth?!"

"So what?" Thalas sneered.

"We'll send them to join their sire soon enough."

"But why attack Fabliau?" Verdis protested.

"Do they want Mother's Crestone?" They want me, Simon realized. They had somehow managed to use Shabram's brand-powered connection to him to track down the hidden Overlord who sought to set them up against each other. Casval's attack on him right before the general assault on the capital pointed that way. They must think I was trying to build a power base here. Alphonse reached a similar conclusion, though for very different reasons.

"The enemy struck Prince Simon with a spell during the attack's opening volley, and specifically ensured he couldn't teleport either from what I could see when I tried healing him," he said.

"I think they are targeting anyone associated or allied with the Magnos family." Filip glared at Simon and Thalas.

"I knew allying with your kind was a terrible idea…"

"As if you had any other choice," Thalas replied with a snort.

"You would have been ashes without Mot–""We are under attack!" Simon snapped back.

"There is no time for arguments!" Thalas glared at him with murder on his mind.

"Don't you dare speak to me that way, basta–" Simon didn't let him finish.

"If Norbelle summoned her Eidolons to defend herself, then the situation is serious! Do you want to watch our sister die?!"

"N-no, of course not!" Thalas grit his teeth, his cheeks flushing red at Simon's uncharacteristic backtalk.

"There's no way these scaled chumps can take out Norbelle!" As if on cue, a peregrine falcon dove down and landed on Filip's arm at phenomenal speed.

"Assassins! Assassins!" it shrieked at Filip.

"The Queen's palace is under attack! The Queen calls for help, Your Majesty!" Simon's blood froze in his veins, while Verdis and his father paled in horror.

"What?!" the crown-prince asked, having apparently understood the falcon.

"We must save Mother!"

"Do you still have your emergency teleportation gem?" Filip asked his son, who immediately brought the aforementioned crystal from his pocket.

"Prince Thalas, Lord Alphonse…" He scowled in annoyance at the mere idea of being forced to ask him for help.

"Prince Simon… my wife is under attack at the royal castle and requires assistance. Will you lend it to me?"

"Yes, of course!" Alphonse replied with hesitation, while both Simon and Thalas nodded, the latter a bit more grudgingly than the former.

"I'll come with you!" Verdis declared, though his father immediately shot the proposal down.

"No, Verdis. You are too low-level, and Cocagne cannot afford the risk of losing its entire royal family here." Filip searched the pouches on his belt and brought out a teleportation gem slightly different from Verdis' own.

"This one will take you to a safehouse outside the city. Call upon the noble houses of Cocagne and rally them here."

"But Father–""You will do as I say!" Filip snapped at his son.

"You will do your duty!"

"He's right," Simon told Verdis.

"We need all the bodies we can throw at this disaster." Verdis looked ready to argue, but having both his father and friend insist on the same thing earned his reluctant acceptance.

"I'll be back soon," he promised upon trading Filip's teleport stone for his own.

"Stay safe." He vanished in a flash of light, leaving the group alone.

"Since you cannot teleport away, Prince Simon, you will need to join us the long way," Filip said with a scowl. He appeared more concerned for his wife than happy to leave Simon stranded.

"I will call a griffin to carry you." Simon clenched his jaw. He couldn't teleport away, and though he had an idea how to bypass the issue, it skirted some lines. He guessed he could make an exception considering how utterly terrible the situation had gotten… for Remedia's sake…

"Wait a second," Simon said, closing his eyes and joining his hands into a false prayer pose.

"I may have a Prayer that can do the job."

"Agnes?" he asked through telepathy.

"Your Majesty?" Here goes nothing…

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes," she replied immediately, without emotion.

"Then, as Overlord and lawful ruler of Endymion, I officially declare us husband and wife." Simon cleared his throat and began to utter a false Prayer out loud." Oh Light of the ancients, I beseech you, take this affliction away from your loyal son! Lovestruck Vow!" Anchor status transferred by Lovestruck. Simon couldn't believe it worked. Lovestruck only needed true acceptance from both parties and a veneer of legal recognition, as far as he could tell.

"It is done, I think," Simon replied. While Thalas scowled at his half-brother with skepticism and Alphonse simply nodded, neither Filip nor his mount appeared convinced.

"He was faking it," Filip's wolf companion said with a growl, squinting at Simon.

"And I am sure he can understand me. He could hear Speedy's message too." Simon struggled to keep a straight face, only for Filip to let it slide.

"It doesn't matter," the Ranger said, releasing his falcon and raising his teleportation gem.

"So long as he helps us save Remedia." That… that was surprisingly mature from him. Simon found himself respecting Filip a little more. I think I see why Remedia considers him a good man… The forest vanished in a flash of light, replaced by a room of stone with an aerial view of the city… or so it looked, until Simon realized it was supposed to be one of the palace's halls, and that its wall had been shattered. The scene of carnage around them was only matched by the chaos in the sky.

All around them were craters filled with corpses, most of them masked men and kish with the occasional Wildguard or broken golem among them. Meanwhile, a cataclysmic battle was taking place outside the palace. The Phoenix was dueling Vouivre in an aerial fight that set the heavens ablaze, while Azulbolla had encircled the flying mountain floating over the Fabliau region. A group of wyvern and dragon riders harassed the Eidolon, led by a gilded figure atop a blazingly fast, golden manticore of enormous proportions.

Dassein and his warbeast-riding corps. Since Norbelle channeled him, Azulbolla was at a lower level than Dassein, but an Eidolon remained an army of its own. The creature was holding its own against the Rider and his aerial riding corps, even as Dassein and his mount smashed into the serpentine dragon's face with the force of a comet behind it. The Phoenix, however, was clearly struggling against Vouivre.

The Eidolon breathed flames that Simon had witnessed blow up airships, only for them to wash off Vouivre's scales without inflicting any damage. Vouivre retaliated with a tornado spell that erupted from her claws and pushed the Phoenix back, then tackled the bird against the floating island. She grabbed it by the throat and dragged its face across the stone with casual ease. The holy bird of Cocagne's talons couldn't do so much as scratch the wyrm.

Simon knew the battle's outcome was already decided; it was merely a question of how long it would last. Surviving the civil war and enslaving the Kish had only made her deadlier and crueler. She improves as quickly as Alphonse, Simon realized. He wasn't sure if Vouivre had an exp boosting Perk or was simply extremely adaptive, but the fact Louis had always failed to put her down for good and that she kept making comebacks across the reigns spoke volumes about the danger she represented.

She will catch up to Louis and Euphemia if I don't put her down early enough.

"Beware!" Alphonse warned his allies, his sword of light shining in his hands.

"I sense something foul and vile from the throne room! An archfiend, or maybe even the Overlord itself!" Simon had sensed it too, and he knew Alphonse's guess was half-correct. He had already faced that aura of overwhelming darkness often enough in the past to recognize it. A Zodiac Fiend. Could they take that thing on? He had the Paladin and Ranger on his side, with the former having a clear advantage over archfiends, and Simon knew from experience that Thalas was no slouch…

but he wouldn't be able to reveal his true Overlord power for risk of the alliance falling apart. The best he could do was to play along and only reveal his true Class should the situation become desperate enough, like in the fight with Exodeos.

"I smell Remedia with them," Filip's wolf-mount warned his rider.

"There's no time to waste!" Filip declared, his wolf-mount outright pulverizing the hall's walls on his way to the throne room. The rest of the group chased after him, with Simon lagging behind even with Ninja's Agility boost. Everyone cast buffs on themselves, with Simon applying Lightspeed, Shadowshield, and Energumen to bolster himself. They found corpses everywhere they walked, mostly intruders that had been torn apart by golems or spells. Simon thought they were War Party soldiers…

until he spotted a few familiar fetches among the corpses, all of them still smiling as they faded into snow. The Cobweb. Renal was right, the spiders did come to pick him and the Lion up. Had those bastards set this battle up by supplying information on the Sanctuary to Vouivre in the hope of engineering this destruction, or had they fully allied with the other side? Either possibility disgusted him. The aura of darkness only grew stronger as they approached the throne room, whose columns had all collapsed.

The Wildguard had fought to the last man to protect it, and yet their best hadn't been enough. All that remained of them were corpses spread among burning ashes, acid puddles, and craters. The wall separating the throne hall from the council room had vanished behind a thick wall of darkness. An orb of shadow crackling with magic had swallowed it alongside the chamber where the Lion was entombed. A monstrous parody of a dragon stared at it intently.

The creature was huge enough to hold a human in its palm, with red scales dripping with fresh blood and crimson wings. His hindfeet ended in hooves, and his tail was that of an enormous fish, while his familiar horns had been twisted into those of a black goat. The dragon had changed, yet Simon recognized his twice-murderer instantly. Casval. Or rather, what he had become.

"It shouldn't take this long," the demon-dragon grumbled.

"It's two of us and a spare vessel against one of those detestable heroes. It shouldn't take them this long to kill that witc–" His head snapped behind him, having either sensed Alphonse or Simon himself.

"Mmm, more victims?" Simon immediately spotted a teal miasma crystal bearing the Goatfish's emblem encrusted in the dragon's forehead, right above a set of four eyes, but his own gaze wandered to a smaller, frailer shape lurking in the dragon's shadow. A frailer, familiar figure with fish-wings, a gem glowing in her chest, and a slave collar that Casval held by a leash like a dog.

"Allow me to introduce myself, friends." The word that escaped Casval's mouth was uttered with mocking, demonic scorn.

"I am Casval, the Painbringer, and this is my beloved minion: Eole, the Voice of Mutation." First, Simon felt horror, and then undying fury.

"You will die for this, Casval," Simon promised, magic crackling in his fingers as his allies readied their weapons.

"I promise you that." The dragon smiled like a crocodile, his fangs glistening behind his reptilian lips as the crystal on his forehead radiated an evil gloom.

"Is that a promise, Deceiver?"