Nil held onto Asterion, facing the creature in front of him. It was otherworldly, its metallic body both liquid and solid, and shaped more like a blob than anything, a bit like Aliss's cooking.
He chuckled softly at the thought. The Wailing Wall had always been a dangerous place, it was estimated to cover around 40% of the planet's surface, no, now more like 30%.
He propped himself up on his left arm and looked at the stump on his right. Wrapping his body in ambient mana, he quickly stopped the bleeding.
"Just a bit longer..."
He stood up, gripping the hilt of the blade, cold metal digging into his palm.
He spun the sword around and grabbed it by the blade, he rushed at it and swung, pommel first.
Spacial Schism (Nilhilus Ver.)
The pommel carved a elegant arc through the air, the sonic boom hadn't even registered when the pommel hit the metallic creature on the side, an shockwave rapidly expanding outward from the impact point.
The force of the shockwave toppled one of the dark spires that were commonly seen within the wailing wall. The creature seemed to turn to look at the toppling stucture, although you couldnt really tell.
"Screeeeeeeeee!" The creature wailed with an eerie screech, reminiscent of dragging a metal object across a chalkboard.
Nil wasnt sure it was screeching at the pain or at the fact that he had just destroyed one of the only interesting things to look at in this place.
A inky black tendril extended from the creature, reaching for Nil, He twisted his body away as the tendril blasted past the place he was just standing at. Before he could even think of a counterattack, another tendril rushed at him.
He jumped up into the air and pressed down on the tendril with his aura coated sword hilt, deflecting it towards the ground, he used the force of the deflection to accelerate the blade hilt in a wide arc, spinning his body midair striking at the tendril that just tried to make him into a skewer.
"tsk"
He spun the blade back around, pointing the blade at the creature.
"Playtime is over."
His arm regrew slowly as the shimmering gold aura he had been suppressing filled his body with vitality and pure mana.
"Thanks to you, I got some practice in," he said with a grin.
Imperial Swordsmanship: Tranquility
The sound that followed was silence. Yes, Silence. The world had turned white. A searing white, the heat of the artificial thermobaric explosion that followed consumed the surrounding landscape.
As the blade touched the ground, what was revealed was a large gash on the earth, stretching a kilometer long. Air rushed to fill the vaccum that the sword strike had left behind, The cut had also reached the top of the Wailing Wall, and split it open.
For the first time in a long time, sunlight touched upon the ground covered by the Wailing Wall's shadow.
"Haaaa," Nil sighed as he gazed at the new canyon he made, "These creatures are getting more annoying the more I get close to the north pole."
He gazed at the golden eagle of the empire emblazoned upon the hilt of his blade. It glinted in the brief moment of sunlight before the wall healed the breach.
***
The Empire of Veristan, also known as the Human Empire, stretched from the southern archipelago and Delphi City on the continent of Delphi, to the northern fortress cities that sit upon the northern continent that holds back the Wailing Wall. From the eastern metropolis of Dongjing and the Hoshi islands, to Gatan in the far west.
It was the shining beacon of progress, led by its greatest generation, also called the golden generation. This generation brought forth new technologies, brought a period where more than 30 9th circle Archmages flew the flag of the empire above their lofty spires, bar the elven queen. The era where fortresses along the borders of the empire were guarded by swordsmasters who could carve mountains. This was the Gilded Age.
Among the countless prodigies and reformers were 5 who shone brightest:
Rigel Lons Veimos, the Archduke of Veimos, who changed the administrative system of the empire and introduced new paper currency backed by a gold standard, central banking, logistics networks, and infrastructure.
Aliss Touscano, Grand Archmage, the first and only mage to have reached beyond the 9th circle, and reduced mana inefficency by 97% in magical tools, and created a new magic system called eternal circle.
Claire Aligron, supreme commander of the imperial armed forces. The one who conquered the Novenfell contient and the Hetian continent, uniting humanity, and made the proud elven nation of Velfindor kneel.
Drugel Grash, the human who surpassed dwarves in blacksmithing and artifact creation. Who created the Verity Core, which could erect a barrier to hold back even the Wailing Wall if need be. Along with the Madeis Converter, which turned ambient mana into usable inert mana.
And finally,
Emperor Nilhilus von Veristan, the one who cut down the demon king and colonized part of the homeland of the demons, renaming the Ruvelti Continent, the Delphi Continent. The one who pushed back the Wailing Wall back 1200km by killing every creature he found, purifying the northern continent with sheer power. The one who sailed into the wailing wall with a fleet and came back with a new continent, and a bigger world.
***
There was no ambient mana within the wailing wall, it was pitch black. Without a light source or night vision, it was impossible to see.
"What number that that one again?" Nil muttered, "Gotta be at least a few dozen by now."
He gazed behind him, at the path he carved through from Fortress Berista.
"I went at least a few hundred kilometers in from the border today," he chuckled, "still a few thousand more kilometers til the south pole."
"Now that warmup is done, lets go straight in, I'll bring back a nice suprise before founding day,"
He poured mana into his subspace artifact and took out a magical tool that Drugel had given him. Drugel had bragged that it was one of a kind, and that it could capture perfect minature paintings with the click of a button. Nil didnt know how to use it exactly, since he filtered whatever Drugel was saying out after listening to Drugel's bragging for too long, but he could figure it out on his own... probably.
He wrapped himself in ambient mana, cloaking himself using a technique taught to him by Aliss. He jumped up into the air and hovered slightly above the ground.
"Onwards, to new frontiers!" He exclaimed.
***
Nil did not expect the sight that he beheld, an empty city with obsidian spires that pierced the sky.
"Hah! Should have come here sooner! I know there used to be a civilization here but wow! Must've been cold to live here though," He mused.
He walked towards the city gates and pushed them open. Each of the two doors were the size of a small building, made out of an unknown material that seemed surprisingly light.
"I hope those archeologists wont mid if I take a teensy sample would they?"
Nil swung his sword at the corner of the door which didnt contain any markings and picked the piece he chopped off up.
"Now here's something Drugel and Aliss would drool over."
He stode into the city, looking around.
"Seems like these people had quite the culture huh?"
Every house seemed to be built in a style of archetecture he has never seen before. Not like the pavillions of the east, nor like the castles of the west. Some were tall, some had underground areas, the roads were wide, with concentric rings radiating out from the center, leading up to a central tower, this one not made with obsidian, but rather the same metallic material the gates were made of.
"Talk about inorganic city planning, reminds me of Dongjing（东京）."
He strolled along the road, eventually reaching the central tower. It towered above everything else, but was relatively thin, only being around 20 meters in diameter. On the spire, there was a metallic slab, that had writing written in glowing characters, similar to the ones used in the east, but a lot more... unique.
"What is this?" Nil looked surprised.
He had never seen a language like this, but... he could read it.
Greetings Nilhilus von Veristan
He instinctually placed his hand on the slab and then, in a single moment, it felt as if space around him twisted, similar to Aliss's spells, but different.
The next thing he knew, he stood in a space that did not seem to have any features other than being white... no it didnt have color. Thats when he noticed it, a huge dragon, its scales a glistening black, its eyes a crimson red.
『Greetings』
A gender neutral, almost monotone voice rang out in his mind. Not wasting time, Nil pointed his blade at the dragon, instantly releasing all his inhibitors, layering himself in anti-spacial and anti-magical barriers.
『No need to be so on guard, Mr. Veristan』
"What do you want?" Nil asked.
『Me? I just wish to convey you a message』
"What message?"
『No need to rush, we have all the time in the world here』
Nil still refused to let down his guard, ready to attempt to try to get out of this place if things go wrong.
"Spit it out, who are you and why have you called me here, I thought dragons were extinct?"
『Oh? Temper, Temper my friend~ You look like youre going to try to blow me into smithereens at any moment』
"Talk."
『Youre no fun~ Anyways, my name is Aluvolus Treshan, the final soverign of Flammens』
"What is that supposed to mean?"
『Ah, you wouldnt know. Flammens used to be the preeminent nation in the continent of Heimat, what you now call the northern continent, and the entire world. We were so advanced even those ancient elves copied our culture.』
"They... copied your culture?"
『They must be strutting about in your world saying how their culture must be superior right? I mean they arent wrong~ Forest Dwellers they still are I see, despite our influence.』
"Anyways, what did you call me for?"
Nil had slowly felt more comfortable in this conversation, his muscle tension eased and his blade lowered, this wasnt normal, not for him.
『As I told you, no need to be so on edge』
The dragon, Aluvolus seemed to shift into a more comfortable position as they cleared their throat.
『Ahem, so basically there will be a huge disaster that will completely wipe you out if you dont do anything about it』
"What? what disaster? When is it happening? How?"
『Not now, its gonna happen like, a bit over... 2000 ish years in the future, 2182 years in the future to be exact』
"And what form will it take? How will it play out?"
『I cant say, because if I do, "It" will know』
"What do you mean by "It"?"
『So many questions~, Im afraid I cant say. That, you will have to figure out yourself』
"Then, should I prepare?"
『Unfortunately, you will die before then, and I know youre going to say that youre empire is strong, but you know too right? That without your... ability, it wont stay that way』
Nil looks into the dragon's eyes.
"Indeed," He says as he uncharacteristically smiles, not knowing why, it felt right, as if he was talking with an old friend rather than an stranger, a potential enemy.
『Anyways, dragons arent extinct, my bretheren, or what is left of them, are resting, they will wake up at around the same time as you, they will aid you.』
"What do you mean, wake up?"
『You'll see』
"Okay..."
Nil nodded slightly before stopping himself,
"Wait... you... youve been using mental magic to try to calm my mind! My defence system didnt catch it because it wasnt hostile!" Nil angrily yelled, as suddenly the stress, confusion, and anger hit him all at once as the mental suggestion was broken.
"You dang lizard!"
『Well, it seems Ive been caught~ Go on now, enjoy your new life~』
"What do you mean?"
Nil quickly slashed at the space around him, attempting to rip it apart, but it was too late.
Aluvolus snapped, or at least tried to, ending up only clinking their talon against their scales.
『Ah... it was a lot cooler in my head』
Suddenly, Nil was enveloped in a bright light.
"Damn it! You dirty scheming lizard!"