Chương 620: B8 - Chapter 117: Victory?

Zeke's brows furrowed. He turned slowly, letting his gaze roam over his surroundings once more. Tents, carts, crates, supply boxes. The enemy headquarters was exactly what he had expected, if not for one simple fact.

"Where are they?" he asked. Zelkara, who followed on his heels, answered promptly.

"I don't know. It was already deserted when we arrived." Zeke's brows drew even closer.

"Any clues? Traces?"

"None," Zelkara said, her voice resolute. That made Zeke pause. Not a single trace. And that was coming from Zelkara, who stemmed from the Wilderness. Hunting and tracking were her bread and butter. But even she, with all her experience and superhuman senses, couldn't find a single clue where the commanders had gone? How was that possible? Could it be that the Legion had held another fleet of airships in reserve, just in case they needed to make a clean getaway? No. That was unlikely.

Even if they had, ordinary airships would still have left traces behind. Anchor points, landing ramps, and such would have left their distinct marks on the ground. Marks that Zelkara wouldn't have missed. Strange. Too strange. Zeke made his way toward the center of the camp. There, he stopped and closed his eyes. Tens of thousands of footprints appeared in his mind's eye. He quickly began to sort through them. He saw the rows of troops advancing in formation, leaving deep, uniform imprints.

But their tracks led to the battlefield. Barely any led the other way, and certainly not enough to explain where everyone had escaped to. Finding no further traces, he was about to end his Spatial inspection when something else caught his attention. Not far from where he stood, roughly in the center of the camp, he felt something. It hadn't been obvious through his other senses, but through his Spatial Awareness, he could vaguely sense it. Remnant spatial energy… Could it be?

Acting on that suspicion, Zeke once again observed the traces left on the ground. But this time, he wasn't looking for footprints that led away from the camp, but for those that led to its center. He soon found what he was looking for. These tracks were fresh, stamped clearly over almost all the others. But without specifically looking for them, they would have been hard to notice. After all, it was quite normal for there to be prints leading around the camp. But this wasn't that.

These final tracks, clearer than all the others, led to the center of the camp from every direction. This was how they had escaped. Instead of fleeing into the distance, they had come here. A name came to his mind unbidden. Stella Eventide. She and her band of elite Space Mages had to be behind this. Only they could have transported such a vast amount of people in such a short time. The implications of that discovery were far from simple.

It meant that her force hadn't just been bought off once, lured into betraying the Alliance for some hidden reward. No. They were already coordinating deeply with the Legion, likely having formed some sort of partnership. That thought chilled him more than the empty camp. To face an army supported by Space Mages meant that you could never be truly safe. No distance, no perimeter, no ordinary defense could prevent a sudden assault.

Only the wide-spanning arrays that blanketed major cities were able to guarantee some measure of security. But such measures were utterly unrealistic for a moving force, especially an attacking one. A marching army could not drag city-grade fortifications behind it. Where would they even find the time to build something of that level? That formidable threat, that power to appear anywhere at a moment's notice, was exactly the reason for Cosmoa's neutral stance.

For all these years, that proud nation had never interfered in the fights of others, content to manage the spatial network between cities and states in the name of the Mage Association. Already, the appearance of Stella's mercenary company had people raising their eyebrows. But that was still somewhat acceptable. After all, she acted on her own and didn't support any of the greater powers in the world. But what about now? The Empire, it seemed, had once again broken precedent.

First, their use of an Exarch against the Elves. Then, their unprovoked attack and annihilation of Rukia. And now, the use of Space Mages in open warfare. It seemed as if the Empire was finally willing to cast aside all pretense, disregarding long-standing rules and traditions one after another. It didn't bode well for the future. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Many of these agreed-upon regulations had been put in place to limit the casualties of war, as well as the brutal slaughter that would occur if those old monsters were let loose without restraint. Not long ago, Zeke had been frightened by the might Vulcanos now possessed. But compared to those beings, who had cultivated their strength for centuries, his might was nothing more than a drop in the bucket.

The mere thought of Exarch-level figures appearing out of nowhere was terrifying enough to send shivers down his spine. And if the Empire truly resorted to such measures, the Alliance would be left with no choice but to retaliate in kind. Such a war would claim the lives of millions. Shaking his head, Zeke forced those thoughts aside and turned to face Zelkara.

"Stop the search. They are gone."

"Understood." Zelkara didn't question him. She immediately turned around to relay his command. Just at that moment, a voice he hadn't heard for quite a while resounded in his mind.

"Host." Zeke breathed a sigh of relief. Being unable to reach Akasha for so long had unsettled him. Her safety should have been guaranteed by their bond, but he wouldn't put it past the Emperor to have prepared even a measure against a Spirit. Only now, hearing her voice again, did the tension in his chest finally ease.

"What's the status of the Alexandria?" There was a moment of silence before Akasha responded.

"We've suffered catastrophic damage. Eighty percent of the offensive arrays and sixty percent of the defensive arrays are either damaged or destroyed. Furthermore, the structural integrity of the ship is compromised. Severe breaches have opened from the first to the third floor, and the lowest level is almost completely destroyed." Zeke frowned deeply.

"Casualties?" Akasha did not answer immediately.

"We have sustained extensive casualties among the people I dispatched to receive the evacuating Flesh Mages. I expect that none of those I sent survived." Zeke's fist clenched at his side. For a moment, the ruined camp around him seemed to fall silent. Names threatened to rise in his mind, but he forced them down. This was not the time. The voice he sent back remained completely calm, without the slightest fluctuation.

"What exactly happened?"

"Unclear," Akasha answered.

"After I opened the formation to allow short-range Teleportation, the ship suffered catastrophic damage. It seemed to have been the result of an explosion from the inside. I've already sent people to investigate the cause, but so far, nothing definite could be determined." Silence followed. Neither of them spoke.

"Host," Akasha eventually said.

"I have failed you. I bear full responsibility for this."

"Nonsense." His voice brooked no argument.

"I value you for your ability to find the most logical path, to weigh costs and benefits, and to make an unbiased choice. That is your responsibility. That and nothing else." Akasha took a moment to respond.

"But I failed to calculate the risk properly. It has led to…"

"Akasha," Zeke cut her off gently but firmly.

"No matter how many variables you consider, how many calculations you perform, how many guesses you make, you can never truly know the future. There is no perfect foresight in this world." Akasha remained silent. He had not convinced her. Not fully.

"This time, the Legion schemed too deeply and managed to catch us by surprise. But so what? Didn't we still defeat them in the end? Even they, for all their planning, couldn't predict the emergence of Vulcanos." The Spirit remained silent for a long time, and Zeke waited patiently.

"Understood," she said eventually.

"What are my new orders?" A faint smile touched Zeke's face. Though it sounded as if she had simply moved past the matter, Zeke knew Akasha well enough to tell that she had accepted his logic. At least for now. There would be time to revisit that later. For now, another problem demanded his attention. His gaze traveled upward, settling on the ruined form of the Alexandria. If the ship had been in good condition, his next step would have been clear.

He would press his advantage, using Vulcanos's might to push deep into Legion territory. Before they could come up with any countermeasures, he would already have seized the capital and driven them back underground. But now, that wasn't as simple anymore. The Alexandria was not just transportation. She was their supply depot, command center, fortress, hospital, and retreat path all in one. His entire logistics, from moving his forces to feeding the army, depended on her.

With her in such a state, every step forward became a gamble. Before he could come to a decision, a sudden sensation interrupted him. Zeke looked down, finding the long-dormant brooch he had once again pinned to the remnants of his robes. The elven artifact had survived even the attack of the Archmage and seemed to still function. At this moment, the artifact was vibrating aggressively. Zeke knew what that meant. Somebody was trying to contact him.

He quickly brought the brooch to his ear and infused a bit of Mana to verify his identity. The moment he did, he heard a familiar voice.

"Urgent news," Lyriel said, her voice carrying a note of disbelief.

"As of half an hour ago, all four major forts have been breached." Zeke's expression turned to one of astonishment. All four? At the same time?

"How did they manage such a feat?" It took a moment for the voice on the other side to respond. This form of communication, though convenient, had a substantial delay.

"They encountered no resistance," Lyriel responded eventually.

"The Legion seems to have given up defending them." Zeke fell into deep thought. Given up? On the four strongholds? Wasn't that akin to surrendering? The inner region, without the protection of those four strongholds, was almost impossible to hold. He couldn't think of a single reason why they would willingly give up on them. Unless…

"Did the Legion give up on Rukia?" Though it sounded ridiculous, that was the only thing that made any sense. If the Legion truly intended to continue defending Rukia, then they definitely couldn't give up on those forts. Once captured, they would be impossible to retake without paying an even bigger price. Could it be? Did the Legion fear Vulcanos to such a degree that they immediately judged the war as lost after his appearance? That… didn't seem likely.

Though Vulcanos was strong, he didn't have the same deterrence power as an actual Exarch. After all, the true terror of an Exarch wasn't merely their strength, but the presence of their Domain. Within it, they controlled the flow of all Mana. That alone made it impossible for any Mage of a lower tier to even put up a struggle. But Vulcanos didn't have that advantage. He could be fought. He could be exhausted. He could be defeated. But as the hours ticked by, more reports began to reach him.

No matter if it was in the north, the south, the east, or the west, all troops advanced smoothly, without encountering any resistance. Cities were left undefended, and strongholds lay abandoned. Finally, when the light of the next morning broke, the long-expected news reached him. Their forces had arrived at the capital. The city, just like all the others, had been left completely unguarded. They managed to retake it without the loss of a single life. That confirmed it. The Legion had really left.

Within the span of no more than a day, this war, which had claimed the lives of countless people and plunged an entire nation into terror, had finally come to an end. That night, cheers broke out in all corners of the land. People wept openly, celebrating the end of the nightmare that had plagued them for far too long. Zeke didn't share their excitement. Deep inside his heart, he couldn't shake the feeling that this victory was a hollow one. The Legion hadn't been driven off. They had left on their own terms.

And though it was possible that they had been scared off by the emergence of a Progenitor Beast, he suspected the reason was something else. What if they hadn't given up at all? What if the Legion had simply withdrawn after already achieving its ultimate purpose?