Cain stared at Alva as he made the instructions clear to him, word by word.
It was not that Cain was especially cruel or wished to bathe the tens of thousands of people of the Azoth Kingdom in blood. He simply did not want the people of the Azoth Kingdom to become an obstacle to him.
Of course, Cain had left the matter in Alva's hands. As a native of the Azoth Kingdom, it was unlikely that he would do something like indiscriminately massacre innocents.
Although Alva was someone capable of resorting to any means to achieve his goals, at least he was not a ruthless person by nature.
"Yes!" Alva was momentarily stunned, but quickly nodded and accepted the order.
Before he left Cain's residence, Cain said one final sentence to him: "Do your job well. When everything is finished this time, you will no longer need to remain trapped in this insignificant corner. Come with me outside and see the vast world beyond."
Hearing that, Alva was filled with joy.
What future was there in remaining confined within the Azoth Kingdom forever?
He had already reached the highest position among the ministers, but the Azoth Kingdom was still only a small kingdom. Although, thanks to Nikola, arcane science had once reached its peak.
But if he remained there forever, at most he would only be able to reproduce Nikola's level. And even that was not guaranteed, because after such a long time, many of his research results had been lost. In reality, it was already impossible to reach that height again.
Thanks to Cain, Alva had connected with Team Flare and obtained from them an enormous amount of orthodox scientific knowledge from the current Pokémon world. He discovered that, compared with arcane science, that knowledge also exerted a tremendous attraction on him. If he could study them thoroughly one by one, surpassing Nikola would not be impossible.
"Yes! I definitely will not disappoint Lord Cain!" Alva left brimming with enthusiasm.
Cain, of course, trusted Alva. After all, he had him completely under control. The thought of rebellion could not even arise in him.
Watching Alva's departing back, Cain narrowed his eyes.
"He truly is a talent. Who would have thought I would find a mad scientist in this remote hole. I wonder what kind of spark will emerge when arcane science is combined with modern science."
In Cain's eyes, Alva's scientific talent was not inferior to that of Team Rocket's current chief scientist, Blaine.
Even, if he joined Team Flare's research team, it would not be impossible for them to surpass Team Rocket's scientific capabilities.
He would still have to remain there for five more days. Four days for Alva to finish his preparations and, on the last day, to verify whether Magearna could truly control that so-called aerial fortress without suffering any harm, just as Alva claimed.
If that aerial fortress could truly be used properly, then Team Heaven would finally have its aerial base.
Since it was called Team Heaven, it was only logical that its base be built in the sky. Only then would the name truly make sense.
Moreover, if combined with the submarine colossus previously confiscated from Team Aqua and with Team Heaven's own land base, then they would truly possess combat capability in sea, land, and air.
In the future, they could advance to attack or retreat to defend. Like the cunning rabbit with three burrows, Team Heaven would not be so easy to eradicate either.
In fact, when Cain founded Team Heaven and chose that name, he had already taken into account this aerial fortress of the Azoth Kingdom.
At the beginning, it had only been an idea.
He did not expect that today there would truly be the possibility of making it a reality.
The aerial fortress and the Mega Wave were, to Cain, the two most valuable treasures in the entire Azoth Kingdom.
...
The four days passed very quickly.
Four days later, the entire Azoth Kingdom had completely fallen under Alva's control. He did not depose the young prince. He allowed him to live a peaceful life, free from worries about food or clothing.
Under Alva's control, the Azoth Kingdom also began, through Team Flare's channels, to gradually come into contact with the outside world, with the Kalos region and with the League. With time, it was still possible for the kingdom to achieve development.
But once it had fallen into Alva's hands, it essentially meant that it had fallen into Cain's hands. Naturally, any resource of the kingdom was now at his disposal.
After those four days, Cain openly appeared in the royal palace of the Azoth Kingdom, the place where the control center of the entire aerial fortress was also located.
Alva had already thoroughly studied the entire place and skillfully guided Cain to the control room.
It was located behind the royal throne. By activating the hidden mechanism, one could enter.
"Are you completely sure there are no problems?" Cain asked, turning toward Alva.
Alva immediately nodded.
"Following your instructions, I spent two days simulating and testing the functional efficiency of this converter and also made some modifications based on the original design. Now the conversion output can be adjusted using the button on the crown. If Magearna feels any discomfort, we can stop it immediately. You can rest assured, there will not be the slightest problem."
"In that case, let's begin directly," Cain said, gently stroking Magearna's head. "I will be here observing the entire time. Nothing will happen."
"Mmm..." Magearna nodded obediently. Evidently, she completely trusted Cain's words.
After receiving Cain's approval, Alva placed the crown-shaped converter on Magearna's head. Then the Soul-Heart in her chest began to rotate.
An enormous amount of life force continuously flowed out from the crown converter on her head.
As if it had sensed that incredibly dense life energy, the various gears in the control room began to spin at high speed. Several specially manufactured metal wheels interlocked with one another, and at the center, a round container similar to a chalice began to accumulate a large amount of life energy.
That energy formed the outline of a virtual Soul-Heart.
That was originally the place where the Soul-Heart was meant to be placed and also the location of the energy source of the entire fortress.
With the appearance of the virtual Soul-Heart, countless sounds of gears turning began to echo throughout the walls of the entire castle-palace.
(End of Chapter)