Chương 1323: 1353 - Halorian Campaign VIII

When Leon awoke, his eyes opened slowly to the gentle sounds of his soul realm. His magic body had slumped so far over the side of his Mind Palace's throne that he'd almost fallen out of it, and it was a herculean feat just righting himself in the simple seat. He managed with a long groan, his eyes closing again as even the relatively dim light of his soul realm seared the retinas of his magic body's eyes.

"Be careful, dear boy," the Thunderbird whispered beside him, one of her hands landing comfortingly on his arm.

"Don't baby him," the gruff tones of the Great Black Dragon responded.

"This is a time to celebrate! Not to coddle and pamper!"

"He was injured," the Thunderbird sniped with all the patience of a woman who'd had to say that several times already.

"He will heal," the dragon replied." He can also hear you," Leon slowly growled, his voice too hoarse for much else." He would like you to stop referring to him like he isn't here…" His eyelids split open again just a crack, but even that much felt like scorching his brain. Still, he endured this ocular torture for long enough that his eyes began to readjust, and the pain receded. He found the Thunderbird on his left and the Great Black Dragon on his right.

The former was kneeling on the stone next to his throne while the latter stood with his arms crossed a pace away, a delighted smile gracing his rugged features.

"Welcome back," the Thunderbird said warmly.

"You were out a while."

"How long?" Leon rasped.

"Almost a day." The Great Black Dragon scoffed.

"For awakening to such grand power, what is a day? Arise, my descendant, and give us your measure!" Leon blinked slowly, ignoring his other Ancestor for the moment. His memory was taking a moment to kick in, but he remembered fighting Antipatra… and then feeling Maia—his heart skipped a beat until he recalled carrying her and his Paladins back to Storm Herald, where the healers immediately tended to them. A quick scan of his soul realm, and the connection between it and Maia's, he found that her condition seemed…

fine. So utterly unremarkable that she could only be fully recovered. And if she was fine, then his Paladins surely were, too, since their injuries weren't nearly as bad as hers had been. With that weight off his mind, he relaxed in his throne and allowed himself to consider other things. Immediately, he thought of red-orange light and the blindness afterward. He remembered locking eyes with Antipatra and watching her head be torn apart, erased layer-by-layer from reality.

And once he remembered that, he straightened up, his eyes open properly, and he regarded his Ancestors more seriously.

"I used the Eye of Calamity," he said.

"Yes," the Great Black Dragon proudly confirmed, his smile so bright that it seemed he was trying to compete with Leon's origin spark above their heads.

"You have once again proven yourself! You used it in a moment of need, when your other powers failed you, and vanquished a vile enemy who dared to lay a hand on my blood!"

"And it nearly destroyed your eyes," the Thunderbird said, her tone harsh, though more as a rebuke to the Great Black Dragon than it was to Leon.

"My boy, do you remember everything that happened?" Leon nodded slowly, recalling his blindness and how slowly it seemed to return to him, as well as what he'd at the time thought were tears, but in hindsight were probably his eyes bleeding severely. He supposed he must have made for a terrifying sight once he returned to Storm Herald, though at the moment, he refocused on the more immediate problems.

"Antipatra's dead, then?" he asked.

"Yes," the Great Black Dragon smugly stated.

"And if she isn't, then she certainly wishes she was! Those who bask in the light of the Eye of Calamity are unmade—they are removed from the universe! Your use was narrower in scope, and it took the woman's head. Her body was unlikely to survive even with her power."

"But there was a possibility," the Thunderbird reminded." If her heart yet beats," the Great Black Dragon responded testily, "then it does for an empty shell! My Eye does not just destroy, it obliterates! Reality itself bends to my will! And destroying her head means more than just destroying her head!"

It took a tremendous amount of effort for Leon not to ask how the Great Black Dragon died if his power was so great, and it was only the knowledge that he wouldn't reveal that even if the question were asked that kept his mouth shut.

"Now, get up!" the dragon insisted.

"Show us what you can do! Show us that your powers have finally fully awakened! That you are my truest descendant!"

'If I knew he was going to say that a couple hundred years ago…' Despite his silent griping, Leon mustered the strength to rise, though he only did so slowly and with the Thunderbird maintaining her grip on his arm—for 'stability', as she put it. He managed to stand, and though his limbs still felt weak, he wasn't in danger of falling.

"Good, good," the Great Black Dragon said as he studied Leon's posture—and likely everything else, too, given how his golden eyes glimmered with arcane light.

"Your use of the Eye of Calamity was narrow in the physical world, but calling upon it so instinctively still did damage to your body. But you will heal in a matter of days. Until then, you may remain weak. We will work on this."

"That had better not be the way it works going forward," Leon murmured.

"Assuming I even can do it again…"

"The first time you used it, it may have been a fluke," the Great Black Dragon responded, dismissing Leon's concern with a wave of his hand.

"Used when pressured by the coarse aura of Planerend. The second was when I induced it within you. Both of these uses had extenuating circumstances—the influence of a Primal Devil, and my stimulation. This time… This time, it was all you, Leon. You fought against a mage, not a Primal Being. I gave you no assistance. This time, more than the others, has proven what you are capable of. What I had hoped your mother was capable of. What I hoped your grandfather was capable of."

The Great Black Dragon looked almost ready to break out into song and dance, and the contrast with how stern he usually was rendered Leon speechless. After a moment, he turned his mind back to how it felt to use that power, how his magic had flowed within his body… … and he thought he recalled enough to repeat the feat. Closing his eyes, the stored power of his soul realm began to swirl around him.

He was careful, moving it slowly, never letting it slip from his control, and felt that power begin to concentrate in the eyes of his magic body. It wasn't nearly as intense as it was when desperation and fury had moved him, but Leon felt it all the same. He could feel the Great Black Dragon's power cycling through his body like molten iron, or perhaps more accurately, like black fire.

The powers were related, he was sure, Doomfire and the Eye of Calamity, and this sensation only served to confirm that connection in his mind. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. He opened his eyes just a crack, and he sensed red-orange light spilling past his eyelashes. The hairs were unblemished, but the grass around his throne's platform was not so lucky, dissolving away in the light shining from his eyes slowly, but noticeably.

Throughout all of this, his eyes fiercely stung, and even at the level of slowly destroying grass, he wasn't sure he could maintain it for long. Satisfied regardless, he released his hold on his power, allowing it to return to normal. When he slowly opened his eyes again, he sensed that his eyes had returned to their usual golden color, though his sclera were already bloodshot.

"It's unsustainable," Leon said, his vision slightly blurry but already refocusing. He could tell the Great Black Dragon was watching with tremendous pride, while the Thunderbird watched with equal amounts of worry.

"I can't afford to blind myself in battle, even if I can fall back on magic senses."

"Then you shouldn't!" the Thunderbird insisted.

"You have managed so much without relying on such power, and you can continue without it!"

"But you can call upon it, can't you?" the Great Black Dragon asked, his grin wide and vicious.

"Perhaps not enough to match your other powers in scope yet, but you can use it…" He laughed with relief as Leon nodded.

"Then all that remains is power! More of it! Seize it all! Once more, this universe will know my power!" As he began laughing, the Thunderbird tugged Leon a few steps away.

"Are you all right?" she asked, worry etched deeply into her bronze face.

"I—" Leon's voice hitched as he tried to reply, almost as if his body were urging him to think more deeply about the matter. So, he took a few seconds to do just that.

"I'm… I'm all right. I can sense that my physical eyes have healed… mostly…" He could sense more than that as his magic senses slowly bled out of his physical body, such as Maia lying next to him, her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. He felt her poke him in the side; his weak probe of magic senses easily sensed. She didn't say anything, but her insistence that he speak with her was felt.

"I trust you to act as you must," the Thunderbird said as Leon turned back to his throne.

"You have proven yourself capable. Just… be careful, my boy." Leon replied, "I will be. Relatively speaking." As he returned to his throne, the Great Black Dragon offered him one more parting statement.

"Do not call upon that power without justification, Leon. It's clear that your body can't yet handle the full might of what I have passed down to you. But another tier, maybe when you reach the Distinguished Stage… My power will be yours, too! Fully and completely!" Leon nodded wordlessly. It wouldn't be the first time that he had a rather self-destructive power that he had to be careful when invoking.

Hells, it wasn't even the only one he possessed at that moment, given that his black lightning still did some amount of damage to him when used. He lingered before his throne, some part of him wanting to throw the Great Black Dragon's current acceptance back in his face. But another insistent poke in his physical ribs had him taking a seat instead. His parting words for the Great Black Dragon, instead of mocking his earlier refusal to acknowledge Leon, were a simple request.

"I'd appreciate any kind of update from Artorion, if you're able to speak with my mother. I know that you haven't yet, but this seems like something you can do to 'celebrate'." The Thunderbird chuckled as he closed his eyes. He returned to his physical body with her saying, "He knows you fairly well…" echoing in his ears.

When he opened his eyes in the waking world, he found the lights in his bedchamber in Storm Herald pleasantly dim, as even though his eyes had healed during his day-long nap, they still felt rather sensitive. But it wasn't the lights that he turned his eyes to, but the ravishing beauty lying next to him. Both of them were without clothing, but buried as they were in the bedding, that hardly mattered to anyone save themselves.

Leon wasn't feeling particularly feisty, and he knew that Maia wasn't, but he still enjoyed the feeling of her skin against his. He quickly made eye contact with her, his gold meeting her lake blue. She gave him a radiant smile and stretched languidly before trying to entangle as many of her limbs with his as she could. She nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck, and he lavished the top of her head with kisses.

His fingers began gliding over her skin, and through her resulting goosebumps, he felt where Eirenaios had stabbed her. He felt nothing but unblemished skin. She was, indeed, fully healed.

"How are you?" he croaked, his voice as hoarse in the physical world as it was in his soul realm.

"Better than you, it seems," she whispered, gifting him the rare pleasure of hearing her voice aloud.

"That's acceptable," he playfully said.

"No, it is not!" she insisted more seriously than he, poking him in the ribs again for emphasis. He laughed as he held her closer, each of them reveling in the other's touch. But then she pulled away, casting a dark glare at the door. Leon had already sensed the presence of several Tempest Knights in the hall beyond, but now Anna had come to his door.

She rapped her knuckles softly against the thunder wood, but the sound still may as well have been explosions for how they destroyed the atmosphere between Leon and Maia. The river nymph almost growled as Leon began to shift under the covers, but she did the same after a second. The two of them pulled themselves out of the bed's warmth and dressed in a flash of light. They shared one more affectionate look before Maia's usual dispassionate expression returned, and Leon forced himself into a more Kingly mindset.

Then, he walked over and opened the door, noting the mild weakness in his legs, which he guessed would disappear over a day or two. Anna, though waiting patiently outside, almost jumped as Leon appeared in the door. His Tempest Knights immediately bowed, which she copied.

"Ah! Leon! I hadn't thought—it's good to see you up! Everyone else has been waiting for you!" Leon smiled about as warmly as he could manage, asking, "Just checking up on me?"

"I've been checking in on you every hour for the past day."

"Just to make sure, or is the situation bad enough to demand such diligence?" As he spoke, Leon walked out into the hall, followed closely by Maia.

"Mostly the former, but the situation is different enough that we need your leadership." Leon hummed in thought.

"Zhang and Daryun?" Anna blinked at the change in topic.

"They've healed. Oh, by the way…" She conjured the tau pearl that Leon had left with her, and he took it back fairly reverently, storing it in his soul realm's vault. As if the act reminded her, Maia retrieved the White Dragon scale and did the same, which Leon also stored. The moment the scale entered his soul realm, he started feeling noticeably better.

"If they're healed, then I suppose we can talk about other things. Give me an update: what are we looking at?" As he began walking, Anna, Maia, and the Tempest Knights fell in behind him. He already knew where Anshu and the other leaders of the fleet were meeting, so that was his destination.

"We won the battle," Anna said.

"As much as there was a battle. Antipatra's fleet hardly even engaged ours, and our arks were too entrenched within the planar debris to contest their retreat. The casualties inflicted by you, Queen Naiad, Paladins Zhang and Daryun, and Red, amount to the only losses they took before fleeing. But though few, their losses were still… heavy. Four eleventh-tier mages, and Antipatra herself, if our reports are accurate. We saw Eirenaios flee, and Aristarchos personally recover Antipatra's body before they escaped."

Leon grinned. With him nearly recovered and Antipatra dead, her fleet, though still larger than his by hundreds of arks, would be far more vulnerable to him now than they were just a couple days ago… As they moved through his private quarters, Lana and Graniton fell in with a bow and relieved look. He spared them nods of gratitude. Zhang and Daryun were watching the quarters' main entrance, and though both were rather pale, Leon stopped his growing procession once he saw them.

"It is good to see you two up and about!" he exclaimed.

"It is good to be up and about!" Daryun responded. He and Zhang bowed as Leon joined them, but Leon just waved them off.

"We are grateful to see you up, King Leon," Zhang said formally.

"We are ready to return to our duties."

"No need to rush," Leon replied.

"You've both seen to your duties admirably. Your defense of my family will be rewarded. I don't have the proper honors to heap upon you right now, but rest assured that I will not forget your actions in that battle!" They had defended Maia against Eirenaios, buying Leon time to defeat Antipatra and put Eirenaios to flight, and had suffered significant injuries in the process.

It was never a question in Leon's mind about whether or not they would be rewarded, but rather how they'd be rewarded, as nothing could truly equal saving Maia's life. Both Daryun and Zhang claimed that it wasn't necessary, but Leon insisted. Eventually, after reminding him that others needed him, they successfully deflected.

'For the moment,' Leon noted. As they headed out into Storm Herald's halls and began the walk to the command meeting room, Leon had Anna continue giving him a quick update. All prepared bombs and other assorted traps laid in the planar debris ahead of a planned fight had been recovered, and no arks had been lost. In fact, the 'battle's' casualties amounted to only four people: Leon, Maia, Daryun, and Zhang. Given they had all recovered, Leon couldn't help but feel damned good about where he now found himself.

The biggest question remaining to him, then, was what in the hells happened to Makarios. Antipatra's ranks weren't ravaged by his Sen'uus bombs, and the man hadn't turned on her fleet at any point—at least, as far as Leon knew. After this meeting, though, he was going to have his answers, and Makarios' fate would depend on what excuses he could muster for his seeming dereliction of duty…