"We already know who the culprit is."
Thalia's words unleashed a brutal wave of murderous intent in the medical bay that literally warped the space, but the moment Erik's body in the capsule trembled, it all vanished like smoke. Even so, Eleonora and Seraphina appeared at Sigrún's sides, at which point the trio of women asked in unison with voices so cold they seemed capable of freezing an active volcano.
"""Who was it?"""
"According to the testimonies of the young ones, including my own disciple, and two heads recovered by Tomás Arismendi, Omar's son, the He clan and the Stellar Empire allied with the Virelian to set the trap." Thalia replied with a serious tone, causing the expressions of the three women to turn to absolute disbelief.
"It was the Stellar Empire…" Sigrún whispered incredulously as she turned to look again at the young man in the capsule. The beautiful redhead in the mirror nodded and explained seriously.
"Yes, one of the heads belongs to a Virelian and the other to Yuan He of the He clan. Meanwhile, thanks to the descriptions in the testimonies, it has been determined that Prince Caelan Starlit of the Stallar Empire was the leader, as he managed to reach the Sage level."
"…"
With expressions incredibly complex, ranging from irreconcilable hatred to guilt and the deepest remorse, Sigrún, Eleonora, and Seraphina looked at each other in complete silence. Seeing the expressions of her friends, Thalia let out a small, understanding sigh and commented in a serious voice.
"I called to inform you. I'll call again if anything new comes up."
"Wait, Thalia."
Suddenly, Eleonora turned to look at the mirror and spoke in a serious voice, catching the attention of the beautiful redhead. But before Thalia could say anything, Eleonora spoke with a voice cold and laden with murderous intent.
"I will personally attack the Stellar Empire. Tell the Director."
"…" Seeing Eleonora's expression, Thalia fell silent for a few seconds but quickly nodded and replied seriously.
"I will."
Soon, Thalia ended the call, causing a heavy silence to fill the room once more, which was cut when Sigrún spoke through gritted teeth.
"I'm going with you, Eli…"
"No, it's better if you focus completely on Erik's recovery; that's what's most important. I will correct this mistake and take revenge with my own hands." Eleonora said in a hoarse voice while trying to restrain her anger. Seraphina spoke with a cold voice, looking directly into Eleonora's eyes.
"I'm coming too. I want to make sure not a single one escapes."
Eleonora shook her head again and, looking back firmly at Seraphina, spoke in a serious and elegant tone.
"Not wiping out that shitty empire back then was a decision Sigrún and I made, Seraphina. It's our mistake, and I want to fix it alone. Besides, although it's unlikely, many things can happen in outer space. If something were to happen, protecting Erik would put Sigrún in a difficult position."
"…"
Seraphina could only remain silent and gaze upon the unconscious Erik in the medical capsule. After meditating for a few moments, Seraphina quickly reached a conclusion about what was more important for her between seeking vengeance or avoiding an improbable risk for her beloved young master. With the dignified bearing of the perfect maid that she was, Seraphina replied with a slight bow.
"I humbly request that you allow my young master to fulfill his goal of ending himself, the scum that took his mother's life."
"Don't worry, that was my plan from the beginning."
Eleonora nodded seriously, a dangerous, electric light shining in her eyes. At that moment, Sigrún let out a heavy sigh that lasted several seconds, then turned to look at Eleonora and spoke with cold eyes.
"Settle this grudge for both of us and come back soon. We have many explanations and apologies to give to our Erik."
Eleonora nodded with a solemn expression, looking back into Sigrún's eyes. Then the beautiful master with golden eyes walked to the medical capsule, leaned her head against the glass, and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, Eleonora opened her eyes and kissed the glass, then left the room without looking back.
After a few moments, Sigrún and Seraphina, still inside the medical bay, watched as Eleonora jumped from the deck into space, passing through the force field protecting the ship. Soon after, an impressive, futuristic-looking ship, seeming at least a generation ahead of the Arcane Order's vessels, materialized before Eleonora, who boarded it and then entered warp travel.
…
…
…
At the end of a long journey, Eleonora finally emerged from warp travel, ending up in front of a planet surrounded by colossal magical circles and layer upon layer of barriers. Surrounding the planet were 9 ships even larger than the planet itself, of different designs, along with thousands of smaller, fighter-like ships.
The moment Eleonora's ship arrived, it immediately received a communication request from a ship of the Arcane Order. Sitting alone in the main control room of her ship, Eleonora accepted with a cold expression. Quickly, a hologram appeared before her showing a man dressed in an elegant black military uniform.
"Lieutenant Colonel Lagginas reporting!"
"I will be the vanguard. Anything I should know?" In response to the man's standard military salute, Eleonora asked in a cold tone, seated in the command chair that resembled a throne.
"Reporting! The imperial family wants to surrender and negotiate the terms of their detention!"
"The Order does not pay traitors."
Eleonora announced with a voice so cold it made the man in the hologram tremble, then rose from her throne. Instantly, a complex magic circle appeared beneath her and soon vanished. Seeing the famous Master-level disappear, the military officer couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, but soon a chill ran down his spine, and he quickly turned to look at the planet ahead.
Before the planet appeared a figure minuscule in comparison: a small human. But, with solemn expressions, all the captains of the surrounding ships zoomed in on their images to focus on that small figure with grave looks. She was a Master-level, a title that represented only one thing. Within that tiny body was hidden power comparable to a star, capable of blowing an entire planet to pieces with a snap of her fingers.
[Esteemed Master-level Silverwood, we surrender! We submit completely to the laws of the Arcane Order and request to be captured and brought to trial!!]
Defying all laws of physics, a nearly panicked voice resonated from the planet, traversing enormous distances so that everyone, even inside the ships, could hear it. At that instant, Eleonora, using the same method the other party could only use thanks to the formation, spoke.
[You have three seconds to deactivate the formations.]
From the planet, billions of people stopped what they were doing or woke up terrified to look at the sky. As if an all-powerful god were speaking, in every part of the planet, a cold female voice full of authority and majesty could be heard. A voice that caused the world itself to tremble and instilled a primal terror in every living creature.
Regardless of species or age, all living creatures on the planet fell to the ground and prostrated themselves completely before the heavens, trembling with fear. Although 99.99% of them had no idea of the reasons for the fury of the entity that spoke, they all knew one thing: their lives and deaths could be decided by a simple snap of that entity's fingers.
[Wait, Master-level Silverwood! This is for our protection! According to the laws of the Arcane Order, a susp—]
Soon, the almost desperate voice of whoever was using the formation to transmit their voice into the vacuum resonated. But before they could form a complete sentence, Eleonora's voice resonated across the entire planet once more.
[Three.]
At the same time, eight incredibly complex, colossal magic circles appeared surrounding the planet, surpassing in complexity and size those in the formations. From the magic circles emerged colossal silver metallic spears of elegant, stylized design, almost like ornamental weapons for cosmic giants.
The spears soon struck the planet's barriers, which deformed like a balloon punctured by spikes. In that instant, thousands of large magic circles formed to launch attacks of all elements toward the spears, desperately trying to destroy them. But like a mosquito against a windshield, they couldn't leave a single dent in the spears, which continued advancing without pause.
From the planet, all living beings could see the colossal spears approaching them, giving them the sensation that the planet itself would be impaled. Faced with absolute despair, some were stunned into shock, and others sighed, filled with impenitence and injustice.
But while some embraced their families, others tried uselessly to hide their children, and more wept heart-wrenchingly, some pleading for mercy or cursing the heavens; the voice filled with absolute despair and terror resonated from the planet once more.
[We beg you! Master Silverwood!! Mercy!!]
But regardless of the pleas, the spears kept advancing, and soon the formations were unable to withstand them, shattering completely. While auroras covered the entire planet with their beauty, the colossal spears began to turn to dust and disappear. But before anyone could even let out a sigh of relief, a new sun appeared on the horizon.
…
From the ships, all present, regardless of faction, age, or power level, watched with absolute terror the electric golden sun created by the Master-level, who watched everything with a cold expression. As the terror of seeing what the title [Master-level] meant left an indelible trauma on all who witnessed it, Eleonora disappeared with a magic circle beneath her feet.
Instantly, Eleonora appeared with a flash of light before a colossal city in the middle of a beautiful green valley, full of water and life. In the center of the city, protected by enormous metallic walls and formations that created multiple layers of barriers and huge magic circles, stood out a huge and luxurious castle that almost seemed like a city in itself.
After looking coldly at the palace, Eleonora conjured a huge magic circle above the city, which unleashed a brutal golden electric bolt that destroyed the barriers as if they were paper. With the city unprotected, Eleonora teleported again to where she could sense the strongest person, arriving inside a luxurious inner palace in the middle of the castle-city.
Inside a huge hall, Eleonora saw an old and decrepit man on the brink of death seated on a golden throne with hundreds of medical artifacts connected to him. Furthermore, surrounding the throne were circles and ritual runes drawn in blood, with hundreds of human bones piled like mountains in the corners.
Seeing the place, Eleonora's expression turned even colder, and with a single thought, she telekinetically grabbed the figure who looked at her with eyes full of impotence, hatred, and madness, and then she disappeared. Reappearing in a throne room that seemed simpler than the previous one, Eleonora fixed her gaze on the man with black hair and starry eyes trembling on the throne.
Then, Eleonora scanned the more than 50 people in the place, ranging from old to young, at least a dozen of whom possessed those starry eyes. Seeing everyone silent and trembling like wet rats, alternating looks of profound terror between her and the unconscious old man floating a few meters away, Eleonora commented in a cold voice.
"To think that rats like you dared to ally with the Virelian… I truly regret not having exterminated you from the start."
"W-we had no choice!"
The man on the throne replied, pale with terror, at which moment Eleonora silenced him with a single look and spoke, filled with a profound hatred that made the space around her crackle terrifyingly.
"But beyond that, the worst sin you could have committed was to have attacked my man… Death will now be a luxury none of you will be able to afford."
When Eleonora finished speaking, all the people in the hall fell unconscious and levitated in the air due to telekinesis. With steps that resonated throughout the city, Eleonora reached the outside of the castle with the group of more than fifty people floating behind her. At that moment, Eleonora raised her head to see thousands of soldiers from the Arcane Order and the Meridian Federation beginning to descend.
At the same time, hundreds of magic circles appeared above the ground, from which emerged thousands of silver metallic soldiers, forming a complete army that quickly took formation. Simultaneously, Eleonora created several floating metallic knives that cut most of the captives and then returned as she ordered.
"Search the entire planet for anyone related to these people." At that moment, a larger knife appeared in Eleonora's hand, with which she mercilessly stabbed the decrepit old man in the chest and ordered.
"Especially those who share his blood. I don't want a single one to escape."
Several metallic soldiers performed a military salute and quickly took the floating knives. At the same time, a metallic soldier with a more intricate and detailed design, resembling a kind of general, approached and respectfully took the knife from Eleonora's hands. With the knife secured, the metallic general raised its spear into the air, and soon the entire metal army dispersed in different directions.
***
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