Chương 49: One Week

Breakfast could only remain ridiculous for so long. A true tragedy, depending on who was asked. Celeste would have happily transformed the entire morning into a custody dispute over my attention. Aura appeared prepared to support whichever side irritated Celeste more; Rowan looked as though he were collecting material for future blackmail, and Nadia had spent most of breakfast pretending not to smile. Malcolm and Vera, as usual, were far too emotionally stable to contribute properly to the chaos.

Akane sat beside me looking pleased, which alone should have been classified as a public threat. Eventually, however, the laughter faded. Plates emptied, conversation quieted, and Celeste returned from the training wing with wild hair, torn sleeves, and the unmistakable expression of someone who had learned absolutely nothing but enjoyed herself tremendously. Then Akane's smile changed.

It did not disappear entirely, because I was beginning to suspect she was physically incapable of such a thing, but the playful satisfaction left her expression. Even Celeste noticed and sat up a bit straighter. Akane set her cup aside and folded her hands before her.

"All right, enough playing." The room settled almost immediately. That was the thing about genuine danger. It rarely needed an introduction. Adrian straightened in his chair. Malcolm's hand left Vera's beneath the table, Vesper tilted his head as his crimson eyes sharpened, and the last traces of amusement disappeared from Nadia and Rowan. Even Aura abandoned her attempt to steal another pastry. Celeste quietly returned to the seat beside Adrian. My attention remained on Akane.

"What happened?" I asked, intrigued by her sudden change. Her gaze found mine before moving across the rest of the table.

"Before coming here, I went to the Demon Continent." The silence that followed was not surprising. We had already experienced what that place was like. Adrian's eyes narrowed.

"Alone?" Akane gave him a faint smile.

"Not exactly."

"Which is a very elaborate way of saying yes," I said aloud.

"It means I was careful." I turned toward her.

"You went to the Demon Continent before coming to me?" One of her ears flicked, and the brief hint of guilt that crossed her expression was small but unmistakable.

"I needed to know how much time we had." Celeste's humor disappeared.

"The original timeline gave us another year." Akane nodded.

"That was true…" Those three words stripped the last warmth from the room.

"The revival is accelerating," Akane explained.

"Destroying two spires damaged the process, but it also forced the demons to change their plans. They stopped waiting. The remaining four have been overfed for decades, and their armies are already positioned throughout the continent." Adrian leaned forward slightly.

"How soon?"

"Dark portals could begin appearing here within a month or two." Celeste inhaled sharply. Aura's claws scraped against the table before she caught herself, and Malcolm glanced toward the windows as though expecting the first portal to tear open above Ravenport at any moment.

"A month or two?" Vera asked with a bit of fear laced in her tone.

"At most," Akane said with a nod. For nearly a century, we had measured the coming disaster against the same deadline: one year to prepare, strengthen, organize the continent, and decide exactly how we intended to meet the war when it arrived. A month or two changed everything, and Adrian was the first to recover from the weight of that realization.

"How reliable is this?" He asked.

"Very."

"How did you confirm it?" Akane leaned back slightly as one of her tails curled around the leg of my chair.

"You saw one of my clones earlier. They are not simple illusions. Each can operate independently, fight, gather information, and return what it learns to me when destroyed or dismissed." Rowan leaned forward with immediate interest.

"How many can you make?"

"If I push myself to my absolute limit… about ten." Celeste stared at her.

"Ten of you?"

"That's correct."

"Ten," Celeste repeated quietly, looking as though the universe had handed her a menu containing nothing but disasters. I ignored her and focused on Akane.

"You sent them across the Demon Continent?"

"Yes."

"All ten?" She nodded.

"And lost every one?" It was just a guess, but to my surprise, it was the correct assumption. Akane's expression barely changed.

"Every single one." That answer settled heavier than the others. The destruction of every clone had clearly taken a toll on her. Beneath Akane's usual confidence, I could make out the strain she had been hiding, even if I did not yet understand the full cost of the magic she had used.

"That's one reason reaching you took longer than I wanted." Celeste immediately perked up.

"Reaching your Helena?" I closed my eyes. Naturally, that was what she had chosen to hear.

"Yes," Akane replied. Celeste clasped her hands beneath her chin. I pointed toward her without looking.

"Don't."

"I'm not doing anything."

"You're practically glowing."

"Silently." Adrian cleared his throat before Celeste could drag us back into nonsense.

"The clones were destroyed, but their information returned?"

"Enough of it." Akane's expression hardened again.

"The armies are not gathering randomly. They already have staging points, invasion routes, siege beasts, aerial forces, behemoths, and ritual engines prepared. The remaining spires are feeding the dark god, but they're also acting as anchors for the portal network." Nadia went pale.

"So they don't need the Demon Lord fully revived before opening them?"

"No, the portals can come first." Akane's tails had gone almost completely still.

"The first waves will prepare the continent for his arrival by destroying cities, overwhelming Guild positions, eliminating leadership, spreading panic, and feeding the bloodshed back through the network." Vera's hand found Malcolm's.

"And then he rises into a weakened world," Malcolm finished.

"Exactly," Akane's index finger extended in his direction. My gaze drifted toward the windows, where Ravenport glittered beyond the glass, untouched and completely unaware of how close the danger had become. My city, my family, everything I had built suddenly felt far more vulnerable as Akane's voice pulled my attention back to the table.

"I already watched what happens when this world waits too long. We cannot allow it to happen again." Nobody argued.

"We need to hurt them before they reach us." I nodded slowly.

"Another assault on the Demon Continent."

"Yes." Adrian's expression tightened.

"The third spire nearly became a trap."

"We aren't attacking a spire." That caught everyone's attention. Akane leaned forward.

"We create chaos instead. Destroy portal staging grounds, burn ritual engines, collapse supply routes, kill as many soldiers and beasts as possible, and retreat before they can fully respond." This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Celeste's eyes brightened.

"Who's going?" Akane looked toward Aura before returning her attention to me.

"Only those capable of causing enormous damage and escaping quickly. Aura can provide transport if necessary. We strike from above, devastate whatever we can reach, and leave before the continent has time to close around us." Adrian frowned.

"That could trigger the invasion immediately."

"It could." No reassurance or pretending otherwise.

"If we cause enough damage, they might decide waiting is no longer worthwhile and cross the sea regardless of whether the portals are ready."

"Which is why we cannot over commit." Akane tapped one finger lightly against the table.

"We hurt them enough to delay the first assault and reduce what they can send through, but not enough to make them throw everything at us out of desperation." Rowan gave a low whistle.

"So we're juggling knives over a volcano."

"Accurate," I replied. Akane looked directly at me.

"If I had my way, only Helena and I would go." Celeste's palms struck the table.

"Unacceptable." There it was. Akane barely reacted as Celeste shot to her feet so quickly that the chair scraped sharply against the floor.

"Absolutely not."

"The two of us are the strongest," Akane explained patiently.

"A smaller group can move faster and retreat more easily."

"You just want to be alone with her." Akane met her accusation without hesitation.

"Yes." The entire table froze. She continued as though she had said nothing unusual.

"It also happens to be tactically sound. Aura would be the absolute maximum I would willingly allow." Celeste pointed at herself.

"I'm practically a sage, and my wind magic can wipe out entire formations." Akane stared at her; an obvious fight was incoming.

"Can you not let me have this?" Celeste blinked. Akane gestured toward me.

"You have had centuries with her. Is one date involving the destruction of several thousand demons really unreasonable?" Celeste pointed accusingly.

"I knew it!"

"Of course I have ulterior motives." Akane smiled.

"I want time alone with Helena, preferably while burning enough of the Demon Continent that their first assault arrives missing half its teeth." Adrian stared at her.

"That's not a date."

"It is for us." I rubbed my temple, reluctantly admitting that Akane was not entirely wrong, while Celeste stared at her as though she had just proposed something completely outrageous.

"You cannot take Mother on a demon massacre date without me." Celeste stomped her feet.

"I can."

"No, you can't."

"I absolutely can."

"I'll follow you."

"I'll leave a clone here to sit on you." Celeste's mouth opened, closed, and then opened again as she searched for a response, while Aura leaned toward me with growing interest.

"Can I sit on her instead?"

"No," Adrian and I answered together. Akane turned toward Nadia and Rowan, and the humor vanished from her expression.

"You remember what I told you before you came here?" Both nodded. Nadia answered first.

"As long as you and Mother are together..." Rowan finished quietly.

"You will win." Akane inclined her head.

"That was not reassurance. It was strategy. Helena can erase enormous sections of an army at once, and my foxfire can turn their staging grounds into ash. Together, we can cripple them while everyone here prepares for what follows." Her attention shifted across the entire table.

"Every human, vampire, demi-human, and anyone else capable of fighting needs to be ready. The Guild must mobilize, cities need reinforced defenses, and we need evacuation routes, shelters, anti-portal wards, aerial patrols, coastal watches, medical centers, blood reserves, food, weapons, and transportation prepared before the first portal opens." Her voice hardened.

"You have one month. Perhaps two." Adrian was already somewhere else mentally. I recognized the look. Networks, supplies, personnel, governments, threats, and contingencies were already assembling themselves inside his head.

"The Guild will need evidence," Adrian informed. Akane lifted one hand, and golden-white foxfire flickered to life above her palm. Within the flame, images began to form one after another: a red-black valley crawling with demons, winged beasts circling dark towers, behemoths chained beside enormous ritual engines, and one of the remaining spires pulsing like a diseased heart.

The final image was worse than the rest, revealing a portal frame constructed from bone, iron, and something disturbingly close to living flesh. No one spoke. Even Celeste forgot to glare at Akane, while Adrian's expression hardened into stone as the full weight of what we were seeing settled over the table.

"That will be enough."

"I assumed so…" Even with the heavy atmosphere, she still said it with a bit of levity. Three centuries had turned me into something obscenely powerful. Age had done most of the work on its own, while training and experience taught me how to control that strength, shape it with precision, and avoid reducing everything around my target to collateral damage. Even so, I had never truly unleashed everything.

There had always been a city nearby, family behind me, civilians who needed protecting, or an enemy who simply did not justify that degree of force. The Demon Continent offered none of those limitations. It was vast, hostile, and crawling with armies that intended to drown my home in blood. For once, holding back might be the more dangerous choice. A smile threatened the corner of my mouth, and Akane noticed immediately. Unfortunately, so did Adrian.

"You're thinking something dangerous." My fingers tapped once against the table.

"I have spent three centuries becoming stronger without ever discovering what happens when I stop holding most of it back." The room quieted around that admission, and even Aura regarded me differently. Dragons understood scale better than most, and apparently she understood exactly what I was implying. Beside me, Akane's expression sharpened with fierce anticipation.

"Exactly." I looked around the table.

"Then everyone has a lot of work to do." Adrian straightened.

"Coordinate with the Guild and every government willing to listen. Use our intelligence network. Ravenport gets prepared first, and then we expand outward," I ordered.

"Understood."

"Malcolm, Vera, I want both of you handling defensive planning and civilian response. The Guild trusts you, so use that." Vera nodded without hesitation.

"We'll take care of it." Malcolm's expression remained grim.

"They'll be ready."

"Nadia, gather everything we have on portals. Demonic blood memories, historical records, captured cultists, failed rituals, or anything even remotely useful."

"I'll start immediately."

"Rowan, watch Ravenport's underworld. Panic attracts opportunists, and I don't intend to fight cultists and criminals while demons invade." His smile returned, considerably darker this time.

"Gladly."

"Aura," I turned towards my dragon daughter. She straightened immediately.

"You can come with us as transport and aerial support." Her violet eyes brightened. Celeste immediately spoke up.

"Then I'm going."

"No," Akane answered. Celeste's expression collapsed far too quickly to be convincing, her shoulders drooping as she lowered her head in a display of misery that immediately made me suspicious.

"Mother... does that mean I really can't come?" There it was. That face. Celeste could have looked perfectly suited for a royal portrait while committing emotional blackmail, which only made the expression more irritating. I knew she was exaggerating, she knew she was exaggerating, and everyone else at the table knew it too. None of that made it any less effective. Akane glanced toward Celeste, and then slowly turned her attention to me.

"Would you like another few rounds with my clone?" Celeste's tragic expression faltered for only a moment before those miserable eyes settled back on me with renewed determination. I let out a slow breath, already feeling my resolve weakening, while Akane narrowed her eyes in immediate suspicion.

"Helena." I ignored her.

"Aura is already going. Celeste provides additional wide-area magic, and she can remain with Aura if Akane and I need to separate our attention during the attack." Celeste brightened by a dangerous degree, the carefully manufactured misery vanishing from her face almost instantly. Across the table, Akane stared at me with the expression of someone who had just watched a trap close exactly as expected. I met her gaze calmly.

"Otherwise, she will spend the entire time we're gone making everyone here regret leaving her behind." Akane glanced toward Celeste, who answered with a blink so exaggeratedly innocent that it only confirmed the problem. As the implication settled in, Akane's ears lowered slightly in reluctant understanding.

"You've dealt with this before."

"Repeatedly."

"And letting her come is somehow easier?"

"Considerably." Akane released a long, resigned sigh before looking back at me.

"You have absolutely no idea how weak I am to you."

"That sounds useful," I smirked.

"It isn't," Akane huffed with indignation.

"Disappointing." Her eyes narrowed at me one last time before she turned toward Celeste.

"Whatever." Celeste launched out of her chair so quickly that both feet left the floor.

"Yes!" Akane immediately pointed at her, cutting off the celebration before it could grow any louder.

"But you have to stop interfering every time Helena and I attempt to have a moment alone." Celeste froze halfway through her celebration.

"If you don't, I will personally leave you on the Demon Continent." Some of the joy drained from her expression, then immediately returned.

"Define interfering." Celeste asked as if she were in college asking a professor an important question for a midterm.

"No." Akane refused to elaborate, which means she wanted Celeste invisible, from what my current understanding is about her.

"But..."

"Just be quiet." You could feel the slight pout in Akane's words. Celeste looked to me for help, but I offered none. With a dramatic slump, she lowered herself back into her chair and resumed sulking so theatrically that even Aura seemed unconvinced. Beneath the table, Akane's tail brushed against my ankle in sudden amusement.

"You let her win." Akane whispered into my ear.

"I approved a strategic asset."

"She pouted."

"She's useful enough that I'm willing to overlook the pouting." I gave a small shrug.

"What can I say? I have a soft spot for Celeste, and I doubt that's ever going to change." Celeste commented from nearby.

"I heard that." Aura grinned.

"I get to go."

"You do, but this isn't a glory hunt. The moment retreat is ordered, you get us out." Her grin weakened.

"Aura." She looked away first.

"I understand." Adrian returned us to strategy before Celeste could restart the argument.

"If the four of you strike the staging areas, how long do you expect the operation to last?"

"Several days if everything goes cleanly," Akane answered.

"Perhaps a week or two if it doesn't."

"What if they react faster than expected?" Adrian's gaze sharpened.

"We leave immediately." I wasn't going to risk anyone's life if I had the opportunity to avoid it. I turned toward Akane, and she met my gaze.

"No pride, and no splitting up just to prove a point. We go in together, and we leave together." Akane's words settled between us with enough weight that I held her gaze for a moment before giving a slow nod.

"Agreed." Celeste looked between us, her expression softening for approximately three seconds before she ruined it.

"I support this romance-based military doctrine."

"I rescind your permission."

"No takebacks." Akane laughed while Adrian pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We still need an actual timeline." I stood. The room straightened with me, and the remaining humor faded.

"One week." Everyone focused on me.

"Akane, Aura, Celeste, and I will strike the Demon Continent. Everyone else prepares Ravenport, the Guild, and whatever portions of this continent are willing to listen." Adrian nodded.

"I'll contact Guild leadership within the hour." Akane turned toward Nadia.

"I'll give you everything my clones saw."

"I'll compare it against the blood memories."

"Rowan." His attention shifted toward me.

"If any group in Ravenport starts whispering about the Demon Lord, remove it." His smile sharpened.

"Quietly?"

"Preferably."

"Disappointing." Malcolm rose beside Vera.

"We'll start with the Guild defense divisions." Vera stood with him, her expression already turning toward practical concerns.

"The hospitals and shelters as well. Children first." Of course she would think of them immediately. Vera could be merciless when the situation demanded it, but that sharp edge had always existed beside an impossibly gentle heart. I guess her time as a princess allows her to think of the people around her even more than herself. Aura had already begun muttering about aerial attack patterns, almost certainly imagining entire demon formations burning beneath her.

Celeste remained seated with her arms crossed; somehow looking as though she had simultaneously won and lost. Akane leaned toward her.

"I meant what I told you. Do not interfere with us." Celeste looked at Akane. Then me…

"I'll behave." Everyone stared. Celeste frowned.

"What?"

"Nothing," Adrian replied.

"Terrifying," Rowan added.

"Suspicious," Nadia agreed. Aura did not bother with diplomacy.

"Liar." Celeste gasped.

"I'm wounded." I looked toward Akane.

"You have one week to prepare yourself."

"For the demons?"

"For Celeste." Akane smiled slowly.

"I think I can handle one clingy daughter." Part of me admired Akane's confidence in thinking she could handle Celeste. The wiser part already knew better. Breakfast finally came to an end, and the family scattered toward their assignments. The absurdity of the morning lingered somewhere beneath the surface, but the atmosphere had changed completely. What began as another ridiculous family gathering had ended with the reality of war sitting among us. A month or two… That was all the time we had left.

The Demon Lord's armies would arrive sooner than expected. Portals would open, cities would become targets, and thousands could die if we failed to prepare before the first wave reached us. I returned to the windows overlooking Ravenport. Morning light stretched across the city below, catching against rooftops, streets, and the fountains surrounding Vaust Royale. Everything continued as though nothing had changed, completely unaware of how close the coming darkness had become.

Akane joined me without a word and remained at my side for several moments before her shoulder brushed lightly against mine.

"We can hurt them badly." She tried to encourage me.

"Yes." I nodded, but at the same time I felt worried.

"Enough to buy everyone here more time."

"That's the idea." Her gaze remained fixed on Ravenport.

"But they will still come." I watched the fountains dancing across the plaza below, silver and violet glimmering beneath the morning sun.

"Then they'll learn why coming here was a mistake." Akane turned toward me, and the fierce satisfaction returning to her smile made it clear she approved.

"That's the Helena I remember." I kept my attention on the city, although my hand found hers anyway. Her fingers closed around mine almost immediately, and I allowed the contact to remain for several seconds before finally letting go. One week from now, we would take the fight to them before Ravenport became a battlefield.