"This day will be the day remembered in history as the stepping stone towards a better future"
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One week following the battle that took place on the boarder between the mainland and the old earth, the government which consisted of one special power from each of the six nations called for elder caelirach and the representatives of the royal families to a meeting.
Inside the sorcery government bureau, the six special powers gathered round at the front of the spaced out room, sitting side by side at the long table and discussing among themselves while the representatives of the royal sorcery families sat in the crowd.
At some point the only supreme general, elder caelirach entered room, accompanied by Kalah who belonged to the flower family as the only daughter of the former patriarch, and as the sister to the family's current patriarch, General Kahal.
Once they stopped in front of the long table, the first thing that caught lady kalah's eye was the fact that each of the six special powers had a thin sheet of a scroll concealing their faces.
Which wasn't surprising considering the amount of sorcerers in the shadows who've made threats to their lives and positions. But that's a story for another time.
Once elder caelirach and lady kalah entered the room, one of the six special powers began to record the meeting with a device laid out on the long table.
One of them spoke out in a firm voice that echoed throughout the room.
"Elder caelirach. You may begin your testimony."
Elder Caelirach glanced over to lady kalah's indifferent expression, and focused his eyes back onto the special powers.
with a nod, he responded:
"I stand here today with lady kalah of the flower family as my witness to the events that transpired on the bordering island between the mainland and the old earth."
As elder Caelirach spoke, the blindfolded representative of the Kuronami family who sat in the upper rowed seats of the room laid out a scroll across the tables, and remained silent as elder Caelirach recounted the events that lead up to the battle a few days ago.
"It all started when we received a message from these foreign persons exactly two days after the blood war met its end…"
Lady kalah stepped forward and spread out a long scroll across the long table in front of the six special powers, which contained the exact message left to the supreme generals by the foreigners, which read as follows:
"Dear sorcerers. As you all know, the blood war has now met its end with General Kahal unleashing the malediction and exterminating the demons, which we are truly grateful for. However the effects of the Malediction is currently causing the deaths of our people, and we would like to propose a plea for peace. We also ask that you bear in mind that we bear no ill will towards you."
Once the special powers read the message, one of them which had an especially raspy voice asked lady kalah directly:
"What of master kahal?"
She cleared her throat and responded indifferently.
"He is currently detained in the lowest level of the detention center, and is being monitored at all times."
Her words seemed to have gave the special powers a sense of ease. After all, Kahal had been the only supreme general viewed as a threat to the government once he returned from hell.
The special powers focused back on elder Caelirach, and gestured for him to continue, and he did.
"Me, along with a representative of each royal sorcerer family, as well as the supreme generals with the exception of master Kahal traveled through a warship for the next two days until we arrived at the agreed meeting place… the island."
Elder Caelirach paused for a moment. A moment that lasted long enough for one of the special powers to raise an eyebrow and say:
"Elder?… what happened next?"
Lady Kalah glanced to the side at him. She already had a feeling that she knew what he was going to say next, considering that she along with a few of the other witnesses whom all attended the meeting knew how elder caelirach went about things.
The room's atmosphere suddenly felt tense to the royal family representatives who watched in utter silence which stretched out far too long.
Before the blindfolded representative could open his mouth, elder caelirach finally answered.
"The foreigners… were hostile."
A small scoff of concealed exasperation from lady Kalah was the only sound that filled the silence that followed after elder caelirach's words.
Behind the thin sheets of scrolls covering the special powers faces, one of them glanced over to lady kalah's subtle expression, and then back over to elder caelirach.
"They were hostile?… but according to the message that was sent by the foreigners, they harbored no ill intentions toward anyone."
Elder Caelirach took a moment. His mind going back to the battle that took place just after the talks of peace had went downhill due to his intentional provocation.
Remembering how each of the three supreme generals had been savagely defeated, and brought to their knees by a man whose appearance looked both human and supernatural at the same time.
He then responded.
"A man by the name of Airu arrived just short of our own arrival. Before any of us knew he was there, he used some sort of power beyond mere sorcery or demon arts to sink our warship, and shame our special military forces…"
"And that all happened right before the woman bearing a child spoke out in aggression due to lingering anger after master kahal's malediction apparently caused the deaths of thousands of their people."
The blindfolded representative felt uncomfortable in his own skin hearing elder caelirach's words.
Looking down at the scroll laid bare before him, he stroke his fingers along the illustrations Airu had told him to record.
'Elder caelirach's words are… out of order'
He could feel goosebumps that sent a chilling sensation across his body. He wasn't surprised at elder caelirach's fabrication of the order of events that happened on the island… but his fear of what the outcome of this meeting would be, made him feel all the more unsettled.
A voice in the back of his mind told him to speak up and recount the true order of events, and even expose to the special powers how elder caelirach deliberately provoked the foreigners into such a hostile reaction… but he knew that it would be pointless to do so.
So he sat in uncomfortable silence as the testimony continued with the special powers response to elder caelirach's statement.
"Well, honestly we're not surprised seeing how we don't exactly know who these people are. But what I now want to ask about is the powers this Airu fellow possessed that you've described as supernatural."
"Prince Shiro, please describe what you've managed to record from the battle."
The blindfolded representative of the Kuronami family stood from his seat, and traced his fingers along the scroll where he'd illustrated his hearings of the battle.
His sorcery was odd, but very useful. It allowed him to listen to the song produced by the souls of those he'd heard with his heightened senses, and absorb knowledge of the very foundation of how their sorcery operated.
After a full minute, he spoke with a grim tone.
"This is unlike anything I've ever seen before, but I think Airu's power begins with killing his own soul."
Everyone's eyes webbed onto prince Shiro. Suddenly so that he could almost feel the disbelief and confusion on their faces.
One of the other representatives exclaimed:
"Killing one's own soul? That's absurd! Sorcery operates by converting vitality into spiritual energy. It is impossible for one's soul to die without killing the vessel as well."
Prince Shiro scratched at his patchy beard, and continued.
"I'm aware of that, but based on the wounds sustained by generals Masayoshi, Asami, and Kojiro, my understanding is correct…"
"At the end of the battle, Airu filled the air with some unknown substance that they inhaled. And shortly after inhaling it, their sorcery seemed to have been nullified."
Prince shiro's finger then traced over the part of his illustration that showed the giant skeleton manifested by General kojiro's sorcery shattering, and when Airu's fatal wounds began to regenerate.
"This Airu fellow has also exhibited the power to regenerate parts of his body by reversing his physical aging, while also speeding up the aging of all living things around him. Including sorcery."
This description of Airu's supernatural powers made sense to everyone, considering how the supreme generals were among the first generation of sorcerers to have awakened their soul's true essence.
At some point in the talks, Prince Shiro mentioned the physical appearance Airu had at the moment of his arrival. How black cracks branched out along his deathly pale skin, and how they reached further each time he used his powers.
Not to mention the physical manifestation of the spirit of death. It was something Prince Shiro couldn't find the words to describe… on one hand, it could've been an attempt to use a soul space…
But that power couldn't be used without a soul. So there was only one other possibility that the Prince could think of.
"He also has the ability to call upon a physical manifestation of spiritual energy. Where his spiritual energy becomes tangible and merges with the space surrounding him."
Behind the thin scrolls concealing the special powers faces, their eyes maybe darkened at the thought of an enemy of that level.
And those pieces of information involving the supernatural power that one of the foreigner's possessed was more than enough to drive the special powers to their conclusion.
"Send a message to the foreigners. We'll offer our resources to them and in turn they shall reveal exactly how their powers work…"
"Otherwise, we'll purge their civilization."
While everyone nodded and simply left the room shortly after, lady Kalah remained in her position and spoke up.
"I must insist that we leave them be. You've all seen what power they possess, as well as the reason for them making those demands…"
"You evil bastards drove my brother into unleashing the malediction which slowly killed their people, and burned through their resources. As well as driving them off our land."
"And now you're suggesting another war just barely a week after the blood war ended?"
One of the special powers rose from his seat, and stood in front of lady Kalah. And with a grim tone of voice, he spoke lowly.
"You've heard kesean's prophecy about an inevitable second war. So you know we're not willing to take any chances in allowing an enemy we don't know, of being the cause of another one that we may not be able to win."
"So I suggest you not to speak a word of what you've heard here and saw at the island, otherwise the six nations will spiral out of control."
With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the disgruntled Princess of the flower family.
"Good day, lady Kalah."
Gritting her teeth, she left the room.
***
Just a few weeks later, a message from the sorcery government had been sent to the old earth, directed to elder Kael and Airu.
A message with the following demands:
"We'll offer our resources to the sick, in turn the one by the name of Airu will reveal to the world his powers and how they work…"
"Refusal to fulfill our requests will result in the destruction of your entire race."
Shortly after the message had been sent, their demands were rejected by Airu himself.
And at the same time, falsified information regarding the foreigners and the battle on the island was revealed to the public.
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Continued in chapter 126: Butterfly Effect
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